The Protector
by olliedannypetey
Summary: This is the story of avatar Aangs older sister Aliyah. She is called the Protector of the avatar. She is not a bender, but she does have some cool powers that will be explained. I'm just going to say this once, it is a slow burn and it is Sokka/OC *Disclaimer I do not own avatar* longer discriptions inside
1. Prologue

The Protector

Prologue

There was once a legend long ago of an avatar who was in love with a powerful woman. The woman was one of the best waterbenders in the world. Once when the avatar was injured in the avatar state, it seemed as though he was going to die. Healers and benders tried everything they could but it was no use. He was dying. The woman was so in love with the avatar that she prayed to the spirits to give her the ability to heal him, regardless of the consequences.

The spirits sympathized her and decided to abide her wishes to save the avatar. The woman then felt a change happen within her. Her waterbending was gone and instead replaced with the ability to heal. She saved the avatar but it took a toll on her. She began to just as the avatar had. The avatar held her close and asked her what he could do to save her. She was pulled into a vision, and knew what to answer him.

"Don't worry about me my love, I have just seen what is to come. My sacrifice today will not be the end of me. When I die my spirit will live on in another. My spirit now has powers that cannot be taken. My spirit has become the protector. I will forever be responsible of keeping the avatar alive. When you die another will take your place. And when you need me I will be with you always. Our spirits will forever be attached. I love you." She said to him softly, before closing her eyes and falling asleep eternally.

The avatar suffered great pain after her death, but he knew they would meet again, in this life or another.


	2. Chapter 1 meet Aliyah

Chapter 1: Meet the Protector

Soooo this isn't really a chapter this is just a bit of info about Aliyah (ah-lee-ya). She's 15 in this story. She's Aang's older sister and they share a very tight bond as siblings. Let me just say, she is NOT an airbender, because of her gifts as Protecter she is not a bender of any kind (that was one of the conservative equences). Her gifts are a few different things. 1.She is able to feel others emotions just by touching them. 2.She can take the pain of another (like in teen wolf). 3.She has visions of the future that come randomly and they can be from any point in time. 4.She can redirect pain/attacks on to another (like how they redirect lightning in the show) and potentially more but those are the main ones. Aang and her are half siblings because they have different mothers (so for this story I'm not going to put any specific physical properties about her) that's up to your imagination. I'm also going to point out that unlike the avatar it's not certain that the Protector exists. Essentially what happens is when an avatar is born someone that they love or will come to love will be selected as the Protector (they can also not be alive yet) for example in the prologue it was a lover, but for Aang it's his sister. As well because they don't have as clear of powers, some live without knowing that they are the Protector. Aliyah does know that she is the Protector though.


	3. Chapter 2 the boy in the iceberg

Chapter 2: The boy in the iceberg

Water.

Earth.

Fire.

Air.

Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony.

Then, everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked.

Only the Avatar, master of all four elements, could stop them.

But when the world needed him most, he vanished.

A hundred years passed, and my brother and I discovered the new Avatar an airbender named Aang along with his sister Aliyah, the Protector.

And although his airbending skills are great.

He has a lot to learn before he's ready to save anyone.

But I believe Aang can save the world.

Aliyah's POV

I'm awake. But I can't seem to be able to open up my eyes. What happened? Where am I? Think, Aliyah think. Aang leaving, us fighting, Appa flying, chasing after them, the storm, the crash, then-

"Aliyah!" My brothers voice called out. I opened my eyes and looked around. Aang was right in front of my face, and there was a water tribe boy and girl behind him. The girl was looking at me excitedly, while the boy was looking at me with a mistrustful gaze. Aang then pulled me into a tight hug.

"Aang what happened? All I can remember is crashing into the water." I said.

"Well you see Liyah, when we crashed we were encased in ice under the water." Aang said rapidly.

"Right, um ok, wait, where's Appa?"

Aang stood up and moved over and gestures behind him. I see him and get up quickly, a little too quickly, and I ended up stumbling back wards a bit. Someone grabbed my arm in order to stop me from falling. I look up to see the water Tribe boy holding my arm. Once I'm steady I mention a quick thanks and bolt over to Appa. I give him a peck on his nose and jump on top of him before he can lick me. Aang then looks at the siblings and asks,

"So do you guys live around here?" The girl is about to respond when the boy cuts her off.

"Don't answer that! Did you see that crazy bolt of light? They were probably trying to signal the fire navy." I rolled my eyes ready to say something when the girl did it for me.

"Oh yeah I'm sure they're spies for the fire navy, you can tell by that evil look in their eyes." Aang and I looked at each other then looked at them with a big grin. She continues saying,

"The paranoid one is my brother Sokka, you never told us your names."

"I'm A-A-Achoo!" Aang began to say until he sneezed and flew high into the air. We watched him land and he responded as if nothing had happened.

"I'm Aang, and this is my sister Aliyah!" Sokka and his sister looked at him in disbelief.

"You just sneezed and flew 10 feet in the air!" Sokka said.

"Really? It felt higher then that." Aang said confused. The girl then looked as if she had a revelation.

"You're an airbender!" She said as though it was some great mystery.

"He sure is." I said sliding off of Appa.

"Giant light beams, flying bison, airbenders, I think I got midnight sun madness. I'm going home where stuff makes sense." Sokka said. Then he paused realizing he had no way of getting home.

"Well if you guys are stuck, Aliyah, Appa and I could give you a lift." Aang offered quickly, then hopped on top of Appas head. I chuckled and followed him up.

"We'd love a ride, thanks!" The girl said happily.

"Oh no, I am not getting on that fluffy snot monster." Sokka said rudely. I shot him a glare.

"Are you hoping some other kind of monster will come along and give you a ride home, before you freeze to death?" The girl snapped back while climbing onto Appa with Aang and I's help. I like her I thought to myself. Sokka made some noises of protest before sighing and climbing up too. He sat at the back with his arms crossed. The girl sat beside him, while I sat at the other end with my back to Aang. Aang got situated at the front and said,

"Okay! First time flyers hold on tight! Appa yip yip!" Appa groaned and then flapped his tail to take off. We were up in the air, and then crashed into the water.

"Come on Appa yip yip." Aang said again. I patted Appa's side and I could feel his exhaustion.

"Wow, that was truly amazing." Sokka said monotonously. I glared at him and said,

"Appa is just tired is all." I said defensively. Aang nodded in agreement.

"A little rest and he will be soaring through the skies, you'll see." Aang said happily. The girl climbed up to where I was sitting and looked at Aang. Only to find him staring at her with a big goofy smile on his face.

"Why are you smiling at me like that?" She questioned. His grin dropped and he replied,

"Uh oh, I was smiling?" Sokka let out a big groan. Aang then focused on the path ahead. I looked at the girl.

"I'm so sorry I'm all this I seem to have not learned your name." I said quickly.

"Oh I guess you're right! I'm Katara, are you a bender too?" She asked animatedly. I looked away a little sad.

"No, I'm not a bender, but I am an air nomad."

"That's ok, I'm a waterbeneder, but my brother is not. I'm the only one in our tribe." She sympathetically. Sokka settles in and took a nap. I was leaning over the side of Appa's saddle and was playing with his fur. I looked up when Katara climbed to the front of the saddle and started talking to Aang.

"Hey."

"Hey, what are you thinking about?" He asked.

"I guess I was wondering, your being an airbender and all... if you had any idea what happened to the avatar." I looked up quickly at Aang, curious of his answer. I knew he didn't want to be the avatar, but he did know it was his responsibility. Just as his safety is mine.

"Uh. No. I didn't know him. I mean I knew people who knew him, but I didn't. Sorry" he said to her.

"Okay, just curious. Good night." She said.

"Sleep tight." Aang replied. She climbed away and Aang and I shared a look. We knew that even though Katara and Sokka were trust worthy enough, it wasn't safe for them or us to tell them who we were yet. I decided to then go to sleep for a bit.

I woke up to someone poking me. I opened my eyes to see Sokka and Katara looking down at me.

"Um, what's up guys?" I questioned.

"Sorry to wake you up Aliyah, but Aang is asleep and he isn't waking up, and we're here and don't know how to get off." Katara said apologetically. I nodded then stood up and yawned. I looked around to see us stopped right in front of a small village. I walked up to Appa's head and rubbed his face.

"Yip yip Appa, up on to the ice. Okay bud?" I said to him softly. He groaned and then climbed on to the ice. When we got up I tried to pick up Aang and failed. I ended up dropping him and he was still asleep.

"Need some help?" Sokka offered from behind me.

"Uh sure thanks, I will take some of your stuff down. Be careful he's heavy for an airbender." I said before grabbing Sokka's stuff. He picked up Aang (with a bit of struggle) and I helped them off of Appa.

We began walking towards the tribe. When we got in, an older woman came straight towards us.

"Katara, Sokka, where in earth have you been? Who's this? Who's that? What is that?" She said very quickly. Katara and Sokka looked very scared, so I stepped up.

"Um hello ma'am. My name is Aliyah, and this is my brother Aang, and that is our pet flying bison Appa. We are air nomads who were trapped in ice and these two freed us and so we gave them a ride home on Appa." I said quickly. She looked at me questioningly, and then Sokka and Katara nodded quickly in agreement.

"Well, i apologize for my lack of manners. My name is Kya and I am these twos Gran Gran." I nodded in understanding. She then looked at Katara.

"Katara would you be so kind as to show our guests where they may stay and then go to bed yourself Please." Kya asked tiredly. Katara nodded and started walking.

We got to a small tent with some animal furs across the floor. Sokka laid Aang down and left without a good night. Katara seemed as though she didn't want to leave.

"Katara as much as I want to get to know you more, I don't want your grandmother to be angry with us. I promise you can come get us first thing, ok?" She smiled and nodded, said good night and left.

I took Aangs shirt off of him and tucked him in. I went to place a kiss on his temple when I was pulled into a vision.

There was an old man and a boy with a scar, I saw a bolt of light, and a ship with the fire nation sign on it. I wondered what my vision meant, but decided to go to sleep. If i was going to understand it the spirits would guide me in my sleep. I touched Aang and could feel his distress. I gripped his hand and tried to take his pain. I couldn't get it all, but I could see his face relax a bit. I then grabbed some furs and wrapped myself in them before falling asleep.

I heard Aang gasp and shot straight up from bed. I looked around for danger only to see Katara comforting him. I rubbed my eyes when she said,

"Come on get ready. Everyone is waiting to meet you guys." She said happily. Aang grabbed his shirt and put it back on. I stretched and noticed Katara watching him. The second his shirt was on she grabbed him and pulled him outside. I let out a chuckle and followed them out. Katara dragged Aang in front of a large group of mainly women. I walked up and sat beside Aang.

"Aang, Aliyah, this is the entire village. Entire village, Aang and Aliyah." Katara announced. Aang and I bowed and noticed the villagers back away from us. Aang looked at Katara confused and asked,

"Why are they all starring at us like that? Did Appa sneeze on me?" Kya walked forward and answered his question.

"Well no one has seen airbenders in a hundred years. We thought they were extinct, until my granddaughter and grandson found you and your sister."

"Extinct?" I questioned.

"Aang this is my grandmother." Katara said fondly.

"Call me Gran Gran." She said to Aang.

Sokka then walked over and grabbed Aang's glider.

"What is this a weapon? You can't stab anything with this." Sokka said confused. Aang then pulled the glider back with his bending and replied,

"It's not for stabbing, it's for air bending." He then hit the side and the wings popped out. Sokka flinched and children looked in awe.

"Magic trick do it again!" A little girl said.

"Not magic, airbending. It lets me control the air currents around my glider and fly." Sokka looked at him accusingly.

"You know last I checked, humans can't fly." I rolled my eyes at him.

"Check again." Aang said before taking off. Everyone watched him in awe as he soared through the sky. Sokka turned to me and said,

"So why aren't you up there, huh?" I rolled my eyes.

"Do you see any arrows? No you don't, that's because I'm not a bender." I snapped at him.

We then heard a thud and turned to see Aang stuck in a pile of snow. He pulled himself out; Katara and I ran over to him after Sokka mentioned something about a watch tower.

"That was amazing." Katara said helping Aang up. Aang twirled his glider and the wings went away. A giant pile of snow then fell on top of Sokka.

"Great, you're an airbender, Katara is a waterbender, together you can just waste time all day long." He said before marching away grumpily. I had to stifle a giggle.

"You're a waterbender!" Aang said excitedly.

"Well sort of, not yet." Katara replied. Gran Gran then came,

"Alright, no more playing, come on Katara, you have chores." She said and the two walked away. The group of kids surrounded Aang and so he licked his staff and his tongue got stuck to it. I rolled my eyes and walked off to find something else to do.

I noticed how cold I was, so I went back to our tent and grabbed one of the furs from the ground. I wrapped it around myself and walked outside. I looked around and saw Sokka and a group of young boys. Curious, I walked over so I could hear and see better, but far enough that I wouldn't get yelled at.

"Now men, it's important that you show no fear when you face a firebender. In the water tribe we fight till the last man standing. For without courage, how can we call ourselves men?" Sokka said dramatically. The boys just stared blankly at him, until one raised their arm and said,

"I gotta pee." Sokka got frustrated and said,

"Listen until your fathers return from the war, they're counting on you to be the men of this tribe! And that means no potty breaks!"

"But I really gotta go." The kid said. Sokka let out a sigh, then said,

"Okay. Who else has to go?" All of the boys raised their hands. Sokka groaned and smacked himself. I couldn't help but giggle when all the boys left to go pee.

Katara came a moment later,

"Have you seen Aang?" She asked Sokka. "Gran Gran said he disappeared over an hour ago." Sokka shook his head. Katara turned to me. "Aliyah have you seen him?" I simply stood up and pointed to where my brother was. Sokka looked at me enraged.

"Wow, everything freezes in there." At the sound of my brothers voice we turned to see him talking to the kids.

"Ugh. Katara get them out of here, this lesson is for warriors only." Sokka was fuming at Katara and I until we heard a "weeee" come from a kid. We all turned to see Aang and the kids using Appa as a giant slide. Katara let out a laugh and I chuckled and came and stood beside her. Sokka then ran over and began yelling at Aang.

"Stop. Stop it right now. What's wrong with you? We don't have time for fun and games with a war going on."

"What war?" Aang said while sliding off of Appa. I turned and looked at Katara in confusion.

"What are you talking about?" I said.

"You guys are kidding right?" Sokka said turning to me. I just stared back at him even more confused. Out of no where Aang screamed,

"PENGUIN!" And then bolted after the poor thing. Sokka looked back at me.

"He's kidding, right?" I just rolled my eyes.

Katara then chased after Aang. I stayed to be with Appa. I climbed on top of him and sat on his head. I watched as Sokka gathered up the kids again to let them have a break.

I turned onto my back as they left enjoying the warmth Appa was giving me. I could feel that he was much better today.

"You were kidding right?" I jumped from my spot. I looked down and saw Sokka staring up at me. I nudged Appa and he laid down so I would be more level with Sokka.

"What do you mean?" I questioned him. He looked at me in disbelief.

"You know the war that's been going on for 100 years started by the fire nation?" He said sarcastically.

"What? No. You're just kidding about that. Believe me if there was a war I'd know, my people and I would do whatever was needed." I replied honestly.

"Well, I hate to break it to you, but this isn't a joke. This war has been going on for a century and there's no airbenders anywhere." He said seriously. I looked at him, more confused then ever. "Aliyah, how long were you in that iceberg?"

"Um, I'm not sure it didn't feel very long, and Aang and I look the exact same. Why?" I asked.

"Aliyah, I think that you and Aang were in that ice berg for a hundred years." I raised my eyebrows. "Wait and before you tell me off, think about it. The war started 100 years ago and you and Aang have no recollection of it. Also no one has seen airbenders in almost that much time as well, let alone a flying bison." I looked at him and I wanted to believe that it wasn't true, but deep down I knew that it was. I slowly slid off of Appa and stood face to face with Sokka.

"Are you telling me that Aang and I are probably the last of our people?" He nodded slowly. I took a breath. I know I shouldn't tell him without Aang here but I think he should know, because if there's a war Aang and I will have to help end it. I took a few more deep breaths blocking out the tears. Sokka grabbed my hand.

"Aliyah?" I looked up at him.

"Sokka I have to tell you something." He looked at me confused. "Aang is the a-"

I was cut off by a large flare going into the air. Sokka let go of my hand.

A/N: so this is my first story. I hope you liked it and I will try to update ASAP. Dec. 19, 2018


	4. Chapter 3 the avatar returns

Aliyah's POV

After the flare began to go down Sokka turned to me.

"I knew it! You and your brother are liars! You work for the fire nation."

"No we don't, after all we have shown and told you how can you not believe us." I said accusingly.

"Because of that!" Sokka said pointing up at the flare. We noticed everyone gathering together in a group. Sokka scoffed at me, We walked over to join the villagers and noticed that Aang and Katara were walking back. When the kids saw Aang they cheered and ran to him. Sokka then walked forward.

"I knew it! You signalled the fire navy with that flare. You're leading them straight to us aren't you!" He said pointing at Aang.

"Aang didn't do anything, it was an accident." Katara said defensively.

"Yeah, we were on this ship and there was a booby trap, and well we boobied right into to it." Aang said sheepishly.

"Katara. You shouldn't have gone on that ship. Now we could all be in danger." Kya said angrily.

"Don't blame Katara. I brought her there. It's my fault." Aang said guilty. I walked up to him and wrapped an arm around his shoulders.

"A-ha! So the traitor confesses. Warriors away from the enemy. The foreigners are banished from our village." Sokka said. I looked at him in disbelief.

"Sokka you're making a mistake." Katara argues.

"No, I'm keeping my promise to dad. I'm protecting you from threats like them." Sokka said.

"Aang and Aliyah are not our enemies. Don't you see? Aang has brought us something we haven't had in a long time: fun." Katara said. I looked at her a smiled a bit.

"Fun? We can't fight firebenders with fun." Sokka said insulted.

"You should try it sometime." Aang said. I looked down at him. My eyes screaming 'now is not the time to speak'.

"Get our of our village. Now." Sokka said.

"Grandmother please. Don't let Sokka do this." Katara tried to reason.

"Katara, you knew going onto that ship was forbidden. Sokka is right. I think it's best if the air Nomads leave." Kya said.

"Fine! Then I'm banished too! Come on guys let's go." She said dragging Aang with her. I looked at Kya and the tribe sympathetically.

"Where do you think you're going?" Sokka yelled at his sister.

"To find a waterbender. Aang is taking me to the North Pole." Katara replied.

"I am? Great!" Aang said happily. I shushed him.

"Katara! Would you really choose him over your own tribe, your family?" Sokka asked. I walked up to her.

"Katara, we can't come between you and your family. Family is everything." I said to her before giving her a quick hug and climbing onto Appa.

"So you're leaving the South Pole? This is goodbye?" Katara said sadly.

"Thanks for penguin sledding with me."

"Where will you go?" Katara asked.

"Guess we'll go back home and look for the airbenders." Aang said hopefully, my heart hurt when I thought of him learning the truth. "Wow we haven't cleaned our rooms in 100 years Liyah. Not looking forward to that." I gave him a sad smile. He then jumped through the air and landed beside me on Appa's head. "It was nice meeting everyone." Aang said.

"Let's see your bison fly now airboy." Sokka said rudely. I shot him a dirty look.

"Come on Appa, you can do it, yip yip." I said. Appa groaned and stood.

"Yeah I thought so." Sokka said. A little girl then ran from the crowd to where Katara was standing and cried.

"Aang Don't go I'll miss you!"

Aang looked at Katara.

"I'll miss you too." I could see the pain on Aang's face.

"Come on boy." I said to Appa softly.

Walking away was painful. They were such nice people, besides Sokka. Especially Katara. I could tell Aang really liked her and I was sad because she was the first friend I ever really had. We walked for a while until Appa let out a groan. I felt his side.

"He's so tired Aang, we have to let him rest more." I said. Aang nodded and we climbed off of Appa. Instantly Aang jumped higher onto the ice where I couldn't reach him. I sighed and sat on Appa's belly. We stayed like this for a bit, just lost in thought, until Aang said,

"Aliyah look! There's a ship headed straight for the village!" He slid down Appa.

"We have to help them." I said determined. He nodded.

"I'll fly over on my glider, you bring Appa and meet me there." He said snapping his glider open.

"Aang!" He turned to me. "Be careful okay?" I said. He gave me a short nod and took off. I nudged Appa. "Appa come on we have to go." I said urgently. I touched his side and I felt his exhaustion still present. "Listen bud you don't have to fly, just run Okay?" He stood up and I climbed on top of him. "Yip yip." I said and we headed for the village.

When we arrived I hopped off of Appa and ran towards the ship. I got to the clearing and saw Aang facing a firebender with a ponytail and a scar alone.

"Looking for me?" Aang said bravely.

"You're the airbender? You're the Avatar?" Ponytail said. They glared at each other. I began to walk closer to them. I looked over at Katara and Sokka looking at me for some kind of confirmation. I gave a small nod. "I've spent years preparing for this encounter; training, meditating. You're just a child!" Ponytail said angrily.

"Well you're just a teenager." Aang said. Ponytail then started to throw fire. Aang blocked his blows. One of the flames nearly hit the villagers and Aang paused. "If I go with you, will you promise to leave everyone alone?" He said. Ponytail nodded in agreement. Soldiers came and grabbed Aang. I ran towards him.

"No!" I yelled, then I ran forwards and knocked the guards holding Aang to the ground. "He's not going anywhere." I said glaring at Ponytail.

"What's this? Another one of you? You don't even have arrows. How dare you stand before me." He said.

"You're not taking Aang anywhere." I said venomously.

"Aliyah it's fine, I'll be ok." Aang said softly.

"No Aang, you won't. It's my job to protect you and you are not going with Ponytail over here." I said glaring at Ponytail. Ponytail looked at me enraged. He grabbed my arm and I could feel the heat coming from his hand. I focused all my energy on that one spot and then grabbed his arm. I felt the fire move through me and then onto him.

"Ahhh." He yelled and I flew back from him. I panted and Katara came and helped me up. Ponytail looked at me in shock before shaking his head and walking up onto the ship dragging Aang with him. The door began to close and I felt a tear slip down my face. The door slammed shut and the ship pulled away.

My heart began to pound in my chest. My head was banging. I fell to my knees.

"Aliyah are you okay?" Katara said her voice full of concern. I couldn't respond. There was a pressure on my lungs, I could barely breathe.

"He's gone. I failed him." I whispered to myself. "I'm going to get him back." I said and then ran as fast as I could to Appa. I could hear Katara calling me, but I couldn't wait for her. I had to save him. I was in a full on sprint when I got to Appa, I collided into his face. I rested my forehead against his nose. "Don't worry boy, we're going to get him back." I climbed on top of him.

"Okay Appa yip y-" I couldn't finish my sentence because I was pulled into a vision.

Sokka's POV

I stood and watched as Katara called after Aliyah. I don't know why, but a part of me was telling me that she was right, and we had to save him. I walked away and began to start packing stuff for Katara and I. I noticed Katara staring at where the ship had once been.

"We have to go after that ship Sokka. We have to help Aliyah. Aang saved our tribe. Now we have to help her save him."

"Katara, I-" I began to say.

"Why can't you realize that they're on our side? If we don't help him then Aliyah will be doing it alone. I know you don't like either of them, but we owe them and-" I cut her off.

"Katara! Are you gonna talk all day or are you coming with me?" I asked her. She gasped and ran towards me.

"Sokka!" She cried and gave me a hug.

"Get in. We're going to go save your boyfriend." I said smugly.

"He's not my-"

"Whatever." I said brushing it off.

"What do you two think you're doing?" Katara and I turned quickly at the sound of Gran Gran's voice. We smiled at her innocently. "You'll need these." She said pulling a sleeping bag out from behind her. "You have a long journey ahead of you." She said with a smile. Katara and I looked at each other in disbelief. "It's been so long since I've had hope, but you brought it back to life, my little waterbender." She said then pulled Katara into a hug. She then turned to me, "and you my brave warrior, be nice to your sister."

"Yeah, ok, Gran." I said as she embraced me.

"Aang is the avatar. He's the worlds only chance. And based on what I saw earlier, I believe that Aliyah is his Protector. You both found them for a reason. Now your destinies are intertwined with theirs. Katara and I gave each other a look.

"There's no way we're going to catch a warship with a canoe." Katara pointed out. Just then we heard a growl and saw Appa come over some ice.

"Appa!" Katara said. "Sokka, Aliyah hasn't left yet we can go with her." She said excitedly and ran over to the bison.

"You just love taking me out of my comfort zone, don't you?" I questioned her sarcastically. I grabbed our stuff out of the canoe. I walked over to Appa. "Katara? Where are you? And where's Aliyah?" I asked confused.

"Sokka come quick!" I heard my sister call. I dropped the supplies and ran to the other side of Appa. I saw Katara sitting next to an unconscious Aliyah.

"What happened?"

"I don't know she was like this when I got here. It's like she's asleep, but not at the same time." Katara explained.

"Alright, well let's get on ol' snotty, and maybe she'll wake up on the way, or maybe Aang knows what's going on." I suggested. Katara nodded. The two of us lifted Aliyah onto the saddle and brought our stuff up as well. Appa seemed to understand and started walking towards the water.

"Sokka?" Katara asked me. I looked over at her. "Do you know what Gran Gran meant when she said Aliyah was Aang's Protector?" I looked down at the unconscious girl.

"I don't know, I mean I think I've heard of the avatars Protector before, but I have no clue what it means." I said to her honestly. She went back to the front of the bison while I sat in the back. It was fine for a while, but then we realized we weren't going anywhere and it was taking too long.

"Go. Fly. Soar." I said monotonously. Appa just groaned.

"Please Appa, we need your help. Aang needs your help. Aliyah needs your help." Katara begged.

"Up. Ascend. Elevate." I said dryly. I was getting annoyed. There was no way that this bison could fly.

"Sokka doesn't believe you can fly, but I do, Appa. Come on, don't you want to save Aang?" Katara said rubbing his head. Appa let out another groan. I looked down at Aliyah. Then I remembered that she always said something when she wanted Appa to move.

"What was it she said?" I asked myself. "Yee-ha? Hup-hup? Ya-hoo? Uh, yip yip?" Appa then growled and jumped into the air.

"You did it Sokka!" Katara yelled. This was awesome, we were actually flying!

"He's flying! He's flying! Katara, He's -" I looked over at her to see her giving me a knowing look. "I mean big deal, he's flying." I said brushing it off. We soared even higher into the air in great speed. All was calm until,

"Yip!" Aliyah yelled out of breath.

"Oh my god!" I said clutching my chest. "Why would you do that?!"

Aliyah's POV

I saw Aang being taken below deck. I saw Ponytail walk away with glee. I saw Aang tricking the guards and escaping them. I saw Ponytail slam a door shut. I saw firebenders in a fighting stance. I saw Aang in the avatar state.

"Yip!" I said while sitting up and gasping for air.

"Oh my god!" Sokka said clutching his chest. "Why would you do that?!" He yelled at me. I looked at him in confusion. I looked around and saw Katara on Appa's head looking at me with a smile and clouds surrounding us.

"Katara? Sokka? What's going on? Where are we going?" I asked dazed.

"Well, the firebenders took Aang and then you ran away. Katara and I decided to help you find Aang. Appa came to us and we found you unconscious. Then we got on Appa and we were swimming for a while and then I said "Yip-"" I cut Sokka off by putting my hand over his mouth. He looked at me like I was insane. I pulled my hand back.

"Sorry, I know that you're just trying to explain, but when you say that word twice you're telling Appa that he needs to work harder and right now he doesn't have to." I apologized. "It's just he's so tired and I want him to keep as much strength as possible for when we save Aang." I explained. Sokka nodded. I then climbed over to Katara. "So have you spotted the ship yet?" I asked her. She looked at me in disbelief, I looked at Sokka for an explanation, but he was giving me the same look. "What?" I asked the two.

"Oh uh I don't know why were you unconscious?" Katara said sarcastically.

"Yeah, and what was that thing you did to scar face?" Sokka asked. I sighed.

"Ok I'm not going to fully explain right now because we have to focus on Aang:" they just looked at me expectantly. "As you now know, Aang is the avatar. I am his protector. I am the one that the spirits chose to help keep him safe throughout his journey. Because of this I have some gifts instead of being able to bend elements. What you saw with Ponytail was me allowing his offence to become my own. And I was unconscious because I was having a vision." They both just gawked at me. They both started to ramble at the same time. "Guys! I know you're confused and have a lot of questions, but right now I'm not answering any of them until my brother is safe, ok?" I said. They both nodded.

"Look! There's the ship!" Katara said. We were only a little ways behind it.

"Ok, let's go get my brother." I said determined. As we got closer we saw Aang and Ponytail on deck. Well at least that's one less thing we have to do. Appa let out a growl.

Ponytail and Aang looked up. After a moment Ponytail became more focused and sent fire at Aang. Aang blocked it, but nearly fell overboard in the process. "Yip yip." I said anxiously. The two continued fighting, until Zuko sent one last blast and Aang fell over the edge.

"Aang, no!" Katara cried. Part of me began panicking, while the another got angry. We saw him go under the water.

"Come on Appa, faster!" I said frantically. Katara kept screaming his name. I pushed Appa to go faster. Suddenly a whirlpool shot out of the water. I let out a breathe of relief. Aang was in the avatar state, and began to bend water, knocking Ponytail and his men overboard. We steadied Appa.

"Did you see what he just did?" Katara exclaimed.

"Now that was some waterbending." Sokka said. I saw Aang collapse. I nudged Appa and we landed on the ship.

"Aang are you ok?" Katara called out. The three of us slid off of Appa and ran to him. Katara lifted him up and Sokka and I sat on either side of him. Aang looked up groggily.

"Hey Liyah, hey Katara, hey Sokka. Thanks for coming." He said.

"Well, I couldn't let you have all the glory." Sokka said cheekily. I gave him a quick smile.

"I dropped my staff." Aang said seriously.

"Got it." Sokka said then ran off. I grabbed Aang's hand. He was exhausted, the avatar state had drained him. I began to take his pain. Some colour returned to his face and I began to feel it take its toll on me.

"Aliyah, I will be fine you don't have to do this." Aang said trying to pull my hand away. After a few more seconds I let go.

"Aang, it's my duty to do this for you, plus something tells me you still need your strength." I said.

"Ha! That's from the water tribe!" We heard Sokka say. Katara and Aang helped me onto Appa. Suddenly the men from earlier came back on deck. Aang went to fight some while Katara took the ones by Appa and I. She began to focus and started to bend the water on deck, when she went to strike, the water went behind her and froze Sokka's feet to the ground.

"Katara!" He yelled. Katara then took her stance again facing the other direction and froze the guards to the spot at the last second. She backed away and then climbed onto Appa.

"Hurry up Sokka!" She yelled, as Aang began to climb up too.

"I'm just a guy with a boomerang. I didn't ask for all this flying and magic." He said as he got one foot free, and then the other. He then ran onto Appa. "Yip yip! Yip yip!" He said frantically. Appa took off with a groan. We were almost away when I saw a fireball coming towards us.

"Aang!" I yelled. He got up and sent a blast towards the ball, knocking it off course. We let out a laugh as we escaped.

After flying for a bit I began to get my strength back. I sat in Appa's head as Katara questioned Aang.

"How did you do that with the water? It was the most amazing thing I've ever seen." Katara said in awe.

"I don't know. I just sort of did it." Aang replied truthfully.

"Why didn't you tell us you were the avatar?" Katara asked.

"Because I never wanted to be." Aang said softly, I looked back at him and gave his hand a squeeze, feeling his guilt and sorrow. We sat in silence for a moment, until Katara spoke up.

"But, Aang, the world's been waiting for the avatar to return and finally put an end to this war."

"And how am I going to do that?" He said.

"According to legend, you need to first master water, then earth, then fire, right?" Katara asked.

"That's what the monks told Aliyah and I." Aang replied.

"Well, if we go to the North Pole, you can master waterbending." Katara said hopefully.

"We could learn it together!" Aang said excitedly.

"And, Sokka, I'm sure you'll get to knock some firebender heads on the way."

"I'd like that. I really like that." Sokka replied.

"What about you Aliyah? Are you in?" Katara asked me.

"I'm always ready for an adventure." I said cheekily.

"Then we're in this together." She said.

"All right, but before I learn waterbending, we have some serious business to attend to." Aang said while floating over to Katara and Sokka. I walked over and saw him pull out a map. "Here, here and here." Aang said pointing at various locations on the map. I let out a chuckle.

"What's there?" Katara asked.

"Here we'll ride the hoping llamas, then way over here we'll surf on the back of giant koi fish. Then back over here we'll ride the hog monkeys. They don't like people riding them, but that's what makes it fun!" Aang said. Katara and Sokka looked at each other.

"Okay, Aang, we've got a long way to go until we get there. How about we start with going home?" I said softly. Aang looked at me and then hugged me. We made camp and decided to go to the southern air temple the next day.

A/N: so that's chapter two! I'm sorry it took so long to write, but this is more or less how long updates are going to take. I will try to take a week max, but you know life is life. Hope you enjoyed! Dec. 22, 2018


	5. Chapter 4 the southern air temple

Aliyah's POV

It was very early the sun had barely risen and we were already packing up. I let out a yawn.

"Wait till you see it Katara. The air temple is one of the most beautiful places in the world." Aang said excitedly. Katara and I shared a look of worry.

"Aang I know you're excited, but it's been a hundred years since you've been home." Katara said slowly.

"That's why I'm so excited!" He said as if it were obvious. Katara and I shared another look.

"It's just that a lot can change in all that time." She said.

"I know, but I need to see it for myself." He said determined. He then hopped down to go wake up Sokka.

"Aliyah, how are we going to tell him?" Katara asked me softly. I gave her a sad smile.

"My brother is the most optimistic person I have ever met. I doubt that he will actually believe it's true until he sees it himself. I know it sucks, but unlike me it just hasn't hit him yet, ya know?" I said to her. She nodded slowly. We continued packing.

"How are you with all of this Aliyah?" She asked me. I stopped folding.

"I don't know, a part of me is devastated because we're that last of the air Nomads and only one of us is a bender. There's another part of me that is furious with the fire nation, but I've realized that it wasn't even the people alive today who killed my people, they're just following what they've been taught. So I'm channeling my anger into determination and helping Aang become a master of all four elements and bring peace once more." I said. Katara didn't say anything she just pulled me into a hug. The embrace was nice. I got a sense of her emotions she was hopeful, worried and empathetic.

"Katara, don't worry about me or Aang, we will get through this." I said giving her a smile. Suddenly we heard Sokka screaming and then saw him face plant into the ground. We let out a laugh and then the boys joined us on Appa and we were off.

After an hour or so Sokka's stomach let out a monstrous growl. He started scrambling for food.

"Hey who ate all my blubbered seal jerky?" Sokka said.

"Oh that was good? I used that to start the fore last night. Sorry." Aang said innocently.

"You what? Awe. No wonder the flames smelled so good." Sokka complained. I let our a giggle and then looked up.

"Look the potala mountain range!" I said excitedly getting up.

"We're almost there!" Aang said enthusiastically.

"Aang before we go into the temple, I want to talk to you about the airbenders." Katara said.

"What about them?" He quipped.

"Well...I just want you to be prepared for what you might see." She replied. She took a breathe before continuing. "The fire nation is ruthless. They killed my mother, and they could have done the same to your people." She explained. I turned away from the two. I saw Sokka looking down disappointed with himself. I felt Appa's fur, the only real comfort I had these days.

"Just because no one has seen an airbender doesn't mean the fire nation killed them all. They probably escaped." Aang said happily. I wish I shared his optimism.

"I know it's hard to accept." Katara said trying to reason.

"You don't understand Katara. The only way to get into an airbender temple is on a flying bison, and I doubt the fire nation has any flying bison." He pointed out. "Yip yip." He said as we approached the mountains. Appa began to race faster. The wind went through my hair, I closed my eyes and a grin broke out onto my face. This was the feeling I had missed more then anything. I got the feeling that I only got as we were approaching home after a journey. It was a quick rush up to the top and Aang and I looked at each other. This was the feeling of coming home. I opened my eyes.

"There it is, the southern air temple." Aang said happily. I gave him a hug and whispered,

"We're home."

"It's amazing you guys!" Katara said in awe. Aang leaned back into me.

"We're home, we're home." He said softly. I brushed Appa's side, he was so excited.

"Appa is happy too." I said with a chuckle.

We climbed off of Appa to let him rest for a while. Aang instantly began to run up the path. I smiled and followed up behind him. Katara and Sokka stayed behind me. After a while Sokka began complaining.

"So where do I get something to eat?" He whined. I looked back at the two, and Katara looked at him disapprovingly.

"You're lucky enough to be one of the first outsiders to ever visit an airbender temple, and all you can think about is food?" She said in disbelief.

"I'm just a simple guy with simple needs." Sokka said defensively. I noticed Aang stopped, so we walked up to join him. I looked out a saw the airball field. I got sad looking at the court, seeing as I could never play. Aang began to point out where things were.

"So that's where my friends and I would play airball, and over there is where the bison would sleep. And..." I reached over and grabbed his hand, his sadness flooded through me and I gave it a quick squeeze.

"What's wrong?" Katara asked.

"This place used to be full of monks and lemurs and bison." Aang explained. "Now there's just a bunch of weeds." He said sadly.

"I can't believe how much things have changed." I said softly.

"So, Uh, this airball game, how do you play?" Sokka asked changing the subject. Aang looked at me and we both grinned.

We climbed down to the court as Aang got Sokka set up at one end. Katara began to try and climb up before I stopped her.

"I promise this will be more fun if we just watch." I said cheekily, she looked at me unsure, but came to watch with me anyways. The two began to play. Over and over we watched Sokka get his butt kicked by Aang, we couldn't contain our giggles. At the seventh goal Sokka got flown out of the game near Katara and I.

"Making him feel better is putting me in a world of hurt." Sokka said. He then noticed something and crawled over to it.

"Guys, check this out." Sokka whispered, we walked over and saw a fire nation helmet on the ground.

"Fire nation." Katara said full of spite.

"We should tell him." Sokka said. I nodded sadly in agreement.

"Aang, there's something you need to see." I said calling him over.

"Ok" he said running over with the ball. Just as he got closer Katara suddenly bended the snow and it covered the helmet and Sokka's head.

"What is it?" Aang said when he came.

"Uh...just this new waterbending move I learned." Katara lied.

"Nice one. But enough practicing. We have a whole temple to see." Aang said before turning and walking away. I offered a hand to help Sokka up, but he declined it and brushed the snow off of himself while saying,

"You know, you can't protect him forever." Sokka said seriously. Katara looked down sadly and began following after Aang. Sokka and I exchanged a worried look, then followed them. We walked for a bit until we were at the actual temple. Sokka and I got in front of Katara and stopped her while Aang ran off.

"Katara, firebenders were here. You can't pretend they weren't." Sokka said. She brushed past him.

"I can for Aang's sake. If he finds out that the fire nation invaded his home, he'll be devastated." Katara said as Sokka ran up to her.

"No he won't." I said from where I stood. They stopped and looked back at me. I walked forwards.

"I understand that you are trying to help Katara, but right now you're making things worse. Aang is the avatar, and he's more powerful then he seems, the longer it takes for him to learn the truth the more it is going to hurt him. We don't know how he will react." I said. "So yes he will be sad, but Aang is strong, he will move past this eventually. We just have to believe in m him." I finished as I caught up to them.

"Hey guys! I want you to meet somebody." Aang said showing them a statue of monk Gyatso. My heart hurt at the sight of him.

"Who's that?" Sokka asked.

"Monk Gyatso." I said fondly.

"The greatest airbender in the world." Aang finished for me. "He taught me everything I know, Aang said before bowing.

I thought of monk Gyatso as the memories flooded through my mind. He was the kindest monk I had ever met. He was the one who told me that I was the Protector and why I couldn't bend. For most of life people thought of me as an abomination because I couldn't bend, but Gyatso never did, even before we knew of Aang and I's true identities. He was even the one who showed me that I should embrace who I am, instead of being disappointed for being unable to bend. He was more of a father to me then Aang and I's father. I missed him very much.

"You must miss him." Katara said placing a hand on both of out shoulders.

"Yeah." Aang said before walking off.

"Where are you going?" Katara asked him.

"The air temple sanctuary. There's someone I'm ready to meet." Aang said walking up the steps to the sanctuary. Katara and Sokka looked at each other confused, then turned towards me.

"Come on." I said following Aang up the steps. We walked in silence until we got to the air sanctuary's gate.

"But, Aang, no one could have survived in there for a hundred years." Katara pointed out.

"It's not impossible, we survived in the iceberg for that long." Aang said gesturing to the both of us.

"Good point."

"Katara, whoever's in there might help me figure out this avatar thing." Aang said hopefully.

"And whoever's in there might have a medley of delicious cured meats." Sokka said before charging at the door. We watched him struggle for a minute. "I don't suppose you have a key." He said defeated.

"The key, Sokka, is airbending." Aang said before taking a stance. He then bended the doors open. We watched the three locks unlock and the door open. It was pitch black. "Hello? Anyone home?" Aang called out innocently before entering the room. The three of us followed him in. The light from the doorway revealed many statues. We split up and looked at them.

"Statues! That's it? Where's the meat?" Sokka said upset.

" Who are all these people?" Katara asked.

"I'm not sure."

"I don't know." Aang and I each said.

"But it feels I know them somehow. Look! That one's an Airbender." Aang said pointing at the statue in front of him.

"And this ones a waterbender." Katara said pointing at the one beside it. "They're lined up in a pattern. Air, water, earth and fire." She said.

"That's the avatar cycle." Aang said.

"Of course. They're avatars. All these people are your past lives Aang." I said realizing what was going on.

"Wow. There are so many." Aang said while looking around the room.

"Past loves? Katara, you really believe in that stuff?" Sokka asked her.

"It's true." I said walking past Aang over to them. "When the avatar dies, he's reincarnated into the next nation in the cycle. The same thing happens with my spirit, except instead of being reincarnated into the next nation, I'm instead reincarnated into a loved one of the next avatar. Whether that be a lover or family member or friend." I explained. Katara then walked right past me. I turned around and followed her.

"Aang snap out of it." She said shaking my brother who was just staring at one of the statues in a trance. He looked dazed. "Who is that?" She asked.

"That's avatar Roku, the avatar before me." Aang replied.

"You were a firebender?" Sokka asked while walking over. "No wonder I didn't trust you when we first met." Sokka said as if it were obvious.

"There's no writing. How do you know his name?" Katara asked Aang.

"I'm not sure. I just know it somehow." Aang said happily. Sokka looked at Aang angrily then let out a growl.

"You just couldn't get any weirder." Sokka said. I shot him a glare. Suddenly a loud noise sounded from behind us. We all froze and turned towards the entrance. We quickly ran and hid behind statues. Sokka and I were behind one, while the other two were behind another. Sokka looked over his shoulder.

"Firebender. Nobody make a sound." He whispered.

"You're making a sound!" Katara whisper-yelled. The three of us shushed her.

"That fire bender won't know what hit him." Sokka said raising his weapon. We heard a purring sound and all peered our from behind.

"Lemur!" Aang yelled at the same time Sokka cried,

"Dinner!"

"Don't listen to him you're going to be my new pet." Aang said.

"Not if I get him first!" Sokka said hungrily. The two then sprinted towards the poor thing. It got frightened then ran.

"Wait come back!" Aang yelled.

"I wanna eat you!" Sokka yelled and then the two were out of sight.

"I'll follow them." I said to Katara.

"Ok, I'm just going to stay here a bit longer." She replied. I nodded then walked out following the echos of the boys.

I caught up to them as Sokka said,

"Hey Aang you find my dinner yet?" There was a pause and I heard a small cry. "Aang, I wasn't really going to eat the lemur, OK?" As I entered I heard Sokka say,

"Oh man." I looked around and saw dozens of firebenders and a skeleton. I looked at the necklace and I knew it was Gyatso. "Come on, Aang. Everything will be alright." Sokka said softly. I walked closer and saw Aang on his knees. "Let's get out of here." Sokka said placing a hand on Aangs shoulder. I saw Aang's tattoos begin to glow.

"Sokka watch out!" I yelled as Sokka gasped and pulled his hand away. Aang then began to bend the things around us.

"Aang, come on! Snap out of it!" Sokka yelled.

"Sokka back up, you have to leave him right now otherwise you could get hurt." I said using my arm to block the dust from entering my eyes. Then a big gust of wind sent Sokka flying backwards. I could feel the pull of the state and I couldn't move. "Sokka!" I yelled. I saw him hit the ground. Rocks we're flying all around me. I'd never seen his power like this. At this point I could feel his pain, rage and sorrow. It was unbearable. I began to scream his name as tears fell down my face. I continuously had to dodge the rocks. He began to levitate and I fell to my knees. He reached an arm behind him and I could feel some of my strength being drained and I fell to my knees. I saw Katara pass me trying to get to Aang. "Katara be careful!" I cried.

"Aang I know you're upset. And I know how hard it is to lose the people that you love. I went through the same thing when I lost my mom. Monk Gyatso and the other airbenders May be gone, but you still have a family. Sokka and I, we're your family now. And you still have Appa and Aliyah." Katara called out to him. The wind began to die down and Aang began to lower. I felt Aang's pull lessen and I let out a gasp. I stood up shakily and walked over to where the three of them stood.

"Katara, Aliyah and I aren't going to let anything happen to you, promise." Sokka said. I grabbed Aang's hand and kneeled in front of him, as Katara grabbed his other hand. We saw his eyes return to normal. He apologized and fell against Katara.

"It's okay. It wasn't your fault." Katara said.

"But you were right, and if the firebenders found this temple, that means they found the other ones too. I really am the last airbender." Aang said sadly. Katara hugged him close and I squeezed his hand, trying to take some of the pain away, but it was no use.

Aang returned to the temple while the rest of us packed. When we finished we walked up to the temple to get Aang. I stayed by the entrance and let Katara talk to him. I watched Sokka as he tried to find food in the temple, again. Then we heard the same noise as earlier and saw the lemur there. He ran over and dumped food onto the floor in front of Sokka. Who began eating it ravenously.

"Looks like you made a new friend Sokka." I said chuckling.

"Can't talk. Must eat." He said between slobbering gasps. The lemur then climbed onto my head.

"Hey little guy." I giggled. He stayed on my head as we walked down to Appa. Katara and Sokka climbed up onto him while Aang and I stayed down and looked back at the temple.

"You, me, Aliyah and Appa, we're all that's left of this place. We have to stick together." Aang said to the lemur that was now on his shoulder. I rubbed my hand on his head as if I were ruffeling his hair, then put my hand on his shoulder. He then nudged me and whispered in my ear. I laughed and nodded towards Sokka and Katara, who were grabbing the last of our supplies. "Katara, Sokka, say hello to the newest member of our family." Aang said holding him up.

"What are you gonna name him?" Katara asked. The lemur then jumped off of Aang and took a piece of fruit right out of Sokka's mouth.

"Momo." I said happily. As Katara, Aang and I laughed, and Sokka sulked.

We climbed aboard Appa. Katara decided to steer, and Sokka continued eating. Aang and I lied down at the back. We watched as the temple slowly got smaller and smaller, until it was out of sight.

"I'm so sorry Aliyah." I heard Aang say softly.

"For what?" I asked.

"For hurting you, I know in the avatar state I began to use you for more power and I'm sorry, I never should have done that." He said. I watched as a tear went down his face. I grabbed his chin and brought it up to look at me.

"Aang, don't ever apologize for what you do in the avatar state. You don't have control of it and I know you would never use me like that on purpose. The pain you went through today was terrible and I wish you never have to go through that again. I love you." I said before pulling him into a hug. "Besides," I said while pulling back. "You're my brother, I can always get you back." I said slyly. He looked confused. "Like...this!" I said before tickling him. We laughed and laughed at his helpless struggle and then later I let him sleep with his head on my lap. I brushed his head with my hand. I could feel that he was feeling better and that made me smile, I gave him a quick kiss on the head before moving him up with me and we went to sleep lying beside each other. Little did I know that there was someone watching us with a small smile on his face.

A/N so so so sorry that it took so long to update. I was with family and they bugged me whenever I left the room to work on this, but nonetheless I got this out before the new year, so happy New Years! Dec. 30, 2018


	6. Im so sorry!

Hi everyone i am so sorry that I haven't updated in forever. I just finished exams and I will be updating very soon.

But because I don't have a new update I'm going to clarify a few things.

So, I got one or two comments mentioning Aliyah's looks. I personally am not giving any specific descriptors because I think stories are better when you can come up with your own look for the character. This is why I decided that her and aang were only half siblings. That way she can look like what ever you want.

If you can't picture her I personally see her looking very similarly to Aang, but with vibrant green eyes (I'm talking Jensen ackles, rapunzel from tangled or bolt from bolt) and long light brown hair.

Also, I've been doing some research on the show and it turns out that airbenders don't get cold very easily because of something with their breathing. Since Aliyah IS NOT an airbender she does not have this, so she can get cold ( she might need a certain someone to keep her warm ;) ).

I'm also sorry for the reposting of the chapters, I realized I hadn't posted something that I had originally wrote, and I couldn't just add it in at the beginning so I had to repost all of them. And if you like Wattpad I have also put this on there, same title and profile.

Finally I sincerely apologize for all of the spelling errors. I actually write this on my phone on my way to and from school so it is harder to find errors (especially when autocorrect helps (-_-) ), But someone did say something about me "accidentally" saying Liyah instead of Aliyah. That is actually Aangs nickname for her since he was a baby. So if you see Liyah it IS intentional.

Anyways, I'm so excited that people are enjoying the story this far. I'm also super happy that I'm not the only one who wants a fanfic that's not zuko/oc. I love you all and feel free to ask me if you need any clarifications or if you have ideas (I will give you credit if I use it!)

Btw I'm half way through the warriors of Kyoshi and hopefully it will be up within the next week. Bye! And sorry again about the delay!


	7. Chapter 5: the warriors of Kyoshi

Aliyah's POV

I let out a yawn as I woke up from my nap. It had been a long night for me because I had the night shift. I looked around and saw Sokka staring at a map with no pants on, Katara sewing, and Aang steering.

"You have no idea where you're going, do you?" Sokka said looking up from the map.

"Well, I know it's near water." Aang said cheekily.

"I guess we're getting close then." Sokka said sarcastically. Referring to the ocean that we were currently above. Aang then turned his attention towards Katara. I looked at Sokka.

"Where are your pants?" I questioned him, with my arms crossed.

"Katara is sewing them."

"Why can't you just do it yourself." Sokka just rolled his eyes. I glared at him for being so rude. We noticed that Katara was too distracted to notice Aang, so Sokka made it his mission to explain why.

"Stop bugging her, airhead. You need to give girls space when they do their sewing." Sokka said. I looked at him with my eyebrows raised.

"What does me being a girl have to do with sewing?" Katara said angrily.

"Simple. Girls are better at fixing pants than guys, and guys are better at fighting and hunting and stuff like that. It's just the natural order of things." Sokka said nonchalant. I gave Sokka a disgusted look.

"All done with your pants, and look what a great job I did." Katara said too nicely. Before throwing them at the sexist boy. They hit him straight in the face. Good.

"Wait! I was just kidding! I can't wear these! Katara please!" He begged.

"Relax Sokka. Where we are going you won't need any pants." Aang said happily. He then made Appa take a sharp dive down towards a little island. I recognized it, but I couldn't tell from where.

Ever since Aang and I got out of the iceberg my memory hasn't all been intact, things that were further in my past were much harder to remember. But I knew that I had definitely been here before.

When we landed we all hopped off and Sokka had something to complain about already.

"We just made a pit stop yesterday. Shouldn't we get a little more flying done before we camp out?"

"He's right, at this rate we won't get to the North Pole until spring." Katara pointed out.

I hated that for once Sokka was right.

"But Appa's tired already, aren't you, boy?" Aang argued starring at Appa. He let out a pathetic grunt. "I said, aren't you boy?" Aang said elbowing Appa. Appa begrudgingly let out a very fake yawn. Aang looked at us with a grin.

"Yeah that was real convincing. Still, hard to argue with a 10-ton magical monster." Sokka said.

"Look!" Aang said while running towards the water. Suddenly an elephant koi jumped out from the water. Katara and Sokka ran over immediately, I walked slowly behind having a strong sense of déjà vu. "That's why we're here, elephant koi, and I'm going to ride it. Katara, you've got to watch me." Aang said whilst stripping in front of us. He then dove into the water and burst out quickly screaming about how cold it was. Then proceeded to swim anyways. The other two stood and watched him confused. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Appa walk over to something, I decided to try and see if I could remember this place. I walked around touching plants seeing if it would trigger something. I felt at peace when looking at the island, but I felt stressed when looking at the water. It was not helping that Aang was flying around carelessly. I looked back at him when Sokka cried out,

"There's something in the water!" I instantly saw what he was talking about. Following Aang was a large dark shadow, and my instincts told me we did not want to meet it. Katara and I ran over to Sokka.

"What's wrong?" Katara said worriedly.

"Aang's in trouble." Sokka said gruffly. The three of us began to call out to my brother.he waved to us before being ejected off of the elephant koi. The beast swam right behind him and he sprinted out of the water taking Sokka down when he reached the shore. The beast swam away and Katara and I ran over to Sokka and Aang. Sokka was currently against a tree and Aang was getting dressed.

"What was that thing?" Katara asked.

"I don't know." Aang replied. She looked to me.

"I'm not sure, but I think that a part of me knows, my memory isn't completely intact, but I can remember enough that we do not want to go near it." I said.

"Well, let's not stick around to find out. Time to hit the road." Sokka said before we got surrounded.

I began to fight the two coming after me right away. Somehow I knew how to perfectly counter all of their attacks they looked at me confused and frustrated. I kept countering their attacks until I heard the rest of the group fall. I was about to get the higher ground when I was pulled into a vision.

Aang's POV

When we were attacked by the strangers we were blindfolded. I was pushed to the ground and heard Katara, Sokka and Momo fall beside me. I heard Aliyah fighting until she all of a sudden took a sharp breath in and I heard another thud. She must've been pulled into a vision.

Our attackers made us walk through the woods until we stopped and were tied up to a post.

"You four have some explaining to do." A mans voice called out.

"And if you don't answer all of our questions. We're throwing you back in the water with the unagi." A girls voice threatened.

"Show yourselves cowards!" Sokka yelled out. Our blindfolds were taken off and I looked around, a group of girls were standing in front of us, Aliyah was beside me and Sokka beside her. "Who are you? Where are the men who ambushed us!" Sokka said.

"There were no men, we ambushed you. Now tell us, who are you and what are you doing here." The girl from before said.

"Wait a second, there's no way that a bunch of girls took us down." Sokka said cockily.

"A bunch of girls, huh? The unagi will eat well tonight." The girl said grabbing Sokka by the collar.

"No don't hurt him! He didn't mean it! My brother is just an idiot sometimes." Katara said quickly.

"It's my fault." I said softly, "I'm sorry we came here. I wanted to ride the elephant koi.

"How do we know you're not fire nation spies? Kyoshi stayed out of the war so far and we intend to keep it that way." The man from before asked.

"This island is named for Kyoshi? I know Kyoshi!" I said.

"Ha! How could you possibly know her? Avatar Kyoshi was born here 400 years ago. She's been dead for centuries." The man explained. I thought for a moment and looked at Aliyah, she would want me to tell these people.

"I know Kyoshi because I'm the avatar." I said calmly.

"That's impossible! The last avatar was an airbender who disappeared 100 years ago." The girl said outraged.

"That's me."

"Throw the imposter to the unagi." The man said. The girls who ambushed us opened their fans and began to walk forwards.

"Aang do some airbending." Katara said through her teeth. I took a deep breathe and bended out of my bonds. As I went to land the people cried out in awe.

"It's true, you are the avatar." The man said.

"Now check this out." I said showing them my marble trick. They loved it!

I looked back at Katara and Sokka and saw them being cut from their bonds. The girls went to cut Aliyah and just before she fell Sokka caught her so she didn't hit the ground. I heard her gasp and her eyes shot open.

Aliyah's POV

Leaving the temple. Landing on the island. Kyoshi's statue. Fans. Make up. Fighting. Training. Unagi. No bending. Peace. Me. No avatar. Happiness. Sorrow. Strength. Friendship. Nikkida.

I felt like I was falling and then I was suddenly jerked awake. I opened my eyes and saw Sokka, Aang and Katara standing above me.

"Aang we're here! We're on Kyoshi island. I've been here, I lived here." I said quickly. The three of them looked at me in shock.

"Wait, you mean you lived here?! This is where you went for 6 months?" Aang asked.

"Yes, the monks sent me here in order to experience more culture and learn how to defend myself." I explained happily. I stood up and looked around. It was just as I had remembered it. A grin lit up my face, and then it fell.

"Aliyah? What's wrong?" Katara asked putting a hand on my shoulder. I looked right at her.

"My best friend lived here, and now she's dead." I said softly.

Katara and Aang pulled me into a hug. I looked around and noticed that the entire village was starring at us. "Um, what did I miss?" I asked.

"Well, it turns out we were attacked by a bunch of girls and then they wanted to feed us to the unagi but because Aang is the avatar they are letting us stay." Sokka explained. I noticed the Kyoshi warriors behind him glaring murderously.

"I see." I said brow raised. "Well, why don't we look around? I'll show you some of the places I've been."

"Excellent idea! Come avatar and companions, we shall prepare you breakfast." A chief looking man said.

We were going up towards the centre building and I noticed some villagers taking care of Appa, the sight made me smile. Katara, Aang, Momo and I sat at the table to wait for our food, while Sokka sulked on the side.

"Alright! Dessert for breakfast! These people sure know how to treat an avatar." Aang said as food was placed in front of us. He and Momo dove right in while Katara and I ate a little bit. "Mmm Katara you got to try these!" Aang said shoving a cake into her hands.

"Well maybe just a bite." She said politely.

"Sokka, what's your problem? Eat!" Aang said with his mouth full.

"I'm not hungry." Sokka grumpily stated.

"But, you're always hungry." Aang said in shock.

"He's just upset because a bunch of girls kicked his butt this morning." Katara stayed calmly.

"They snuck up on me!" He argued.

"Right, and then they kicked your butt." Katara replied.

"Sneak attacks don't count! Tie me up with ropes? I'll show them a thing or two." Sokka said walking off. He returned and filled his arms with food saying, "I'm not scared of any girls. Who do they think they are, anyway?" He walked off mentioning something about the food.

"Ok, I have to see this, I'll catch up with you guys later." I said before running off behind Sokka. I followed behind him as he looked for the warriors. It was hilarious. He went every wrong way until eventually he found the pavilion. He was mumbling to himself.

"I can't believe I got beat up by a bunch of girls." He growled. He approached the pavilion and peered inside. He then walked right in.

"Sorry ladies, didn't mean to interrupt your dance lesson." He said fakely. Oh no, he did not go there. "I was just looking for somewhere to get a little workout." He said while stretching a bit.

"Well you're in the right place." The girl from earlier said. "Sorry, about earlier, I didn't know you were friends with the avatar." She said with fake innocence.

"It's alright, I mean normally I'd hold a grudge, but seeing as you're a bunch of girls. I'll make an exception." Sokka said cockily. I rolled my eyes and entered the pavilion and leaned against the entrance. The girl gave me a look and I just smirked at her in reply. I saw all the warriors grin slightly, Sokka didn't notice because his ego was blocking his view. She was going to give him hell. She looked back to Sokka.

"I should hope so, a big strong man like you, we wouldn't stand a chance." She said.

"True, but don't feel bad. After all, I'm the best warrior in my village." He said his ego growing with every word. I let out a soft chuckle, he gave me a quick glare.

"Wow, best warrior, huh? In your whole village, maybe you'd be kind enough to give us a demonstration. The girl said. Just like that Sokka's "cool" disappeared. He began to stutter. "Come on, girls. Wouldn't you like him to show us some moves?" The warriors laughed in agreement.

"Well if that's what you want then I'd be happy to." Sokka said. He got the girl in a "proper" stance and went for an attack, which she easily blocked. Sokka tried over and over to get the upper hand until she tied his hand to his foot and he lost his balance and fell on his face.

"Anything else you want to teach us?" The girl said, she sounded exactly like Nikkida. The girls laughed. I walked over and undid his hand and he brushed passed me angrily. "Do we have to teach you too?" The girl said.

"Not a chance, I'm not an idiot. I'm good, but I'm out of shape by a hundred years or so." I said.

"I wouldn't be too sure, you held your own when we attacked you." A girl from the side said.

"Yes, where exactly did you learn to fight like that?" The head girl said.

"Here actually, I lived here for 6 months after I was revealed to be the avatar's Protector. I met a girl, who was much like yourself, Uh?" I asked the head girl.

"Suki." She responded in shock.

"Right, ok Suki. She was the best and bravest woman I've ever met. She was 14 years old and had mastered her techniques. When I got here I had to learn your form of fighting in order to defend myself. She taught me everything, she was my best friend." I said sadly.

"What was her name?" A girl said softly.

"Nikkida." A gasp came from the girls. Suki stepped forwards.

"You mean, you're Aliyah the Protector of the avatar?" She asked me. I nodded. "You're the one that my grandmother taught?" She said in disbelief. My jaw dropped. How did I not realize! She looks and sounds just like Nikkida.

"You're Nikkida's granddaughter?" I said slowly. Suki nodded proudly. "Man I never pictured her getting with anyone." I said with a chuckle.

"I can't believe it's actually you. My grandmother has told me so many stories. She'll be overjoyed to see you again. It's a pleasure to meet you Aliyah the protector." Suki said before bowing, the rest of the warriors bowing as well.

"Wait, you mean? Nikkida is alive?" I asked. Suki looked at me like I was insane.

"Of course."

"It's just been about a century since I've seen her. I kind of assumed that she passed." I said sadly.

"Have you met her? She's going to live until she is 150." Suki said chuckling. I laughed with her. No truer statement had been said.

"Could I see her?" I asked cautiously.

"Of course! But you have to promise me that later you come and join us for training. I'd love to see my grandmothers teachings in action, plus it would be good if you were ready to fight if needed." Suki said.

"Perfect." I said with a smile.

Suki then told the warriors to take a break and get some lunch. She lead me to one of the buildings closer to the centre of the village. I took a deep breath as it dawned on me that this was the house that I had lived it. I was filled with nostalgia walking through the doors. Suki then paused and turned to me.

"She's just in the room on the left. She has to stay in bed most days because she pulled something trying to show me how to do a proper stance." I chuckled, yup. Definitely Nikkida. "So please try to keep her in bed so that she doesn't injure herself more." She said with a smile. I nodded. Suki placed her hand on my shoulder and then walked out of the house. I took a deep breath and then knocked on the door.

"Come in." A voice called out. I pushed the door open and looked at the older woman in the bed. Nikkida gasped and dropped her cup of tea onto the floor.

"How the hell did you manage to get old before me?" I asked with a smirk.

"Aliyah! It's you! How are you young? What are you doing here?" She said. I walked over and picked up her tea and sat on the edge of the bed. She instantly grabbed my hands.

"Well, it's kind of a long story." I said. I then explained everything that happened after I left Kyoshi until now. She was shocked. We spent hours catching up. She told me how Suki was the best Kyoshi warrior she had ever met, but wouldn't tell her. Suki eventually returned and we told her stories of when we lived together.

flashback*

"Come on Aliyah!"

"Nikkida! Wooooo!"

The two of us were sparring for what would be the last time. I was leaving the next day. We were using our best technics, using each other's weaknesses to benefit.

"Tired Aliyah?" She said cockily.

"Never." I said with a smirk.

Eventually I knocked her to the ground and trapped her with my leg. The referee called me the winner. I helped her up and we just started laughing.

"It only took 6 months, but I finally beat you." I said prideful.

"Please, I let you win." She said nudging me. I rolled my eyes. We looked at each other and the reality of what this meant sunk in. I pulled her into a hug.

present*

It was late when I decided I should return to the others. Nikkida scolded me for not going to bed sooner seeing as I had training tomorrow. I bid the two goodnight before walking to where the others were. I walked into the room that we had eaten in and looked around. Aang was asleep on his back with Momo curled up around his head, while Katara was sleeping on her side by the wall. Sokka was asleep against the wall.

I walked over to the small balcony and then leaned against the banister. I looked out at the small town I had called home. I looked at Nikkida's house and the beautiful statue of Kyoshi, then out to the water. Above it was the moon. My connection to the moon had always been very strong. The moon was a healing spirit. And it was the spirit that donated a piece of itself to change the waterbending into the ability to protect and heal others. I looked back down at the village. Sometimes I wish I just be normal, then I could stay here. A tear slid down my cheek. Im going to have to leave again. How could I leave again.

"Hey." I turned around quickly, only to see Sokka standing there. I let out a breath of relief and turned back towards the moon.

"Hey." I replied softly.

"You ok?" He asked hesitantly while walking to stand beside me.

"Yeah I'm ok. Just thinking." I said. I looked up at him and gave him a small smile.

"Whatcha thinking about?" He asked while turning around to lean against the banister.

"Just reminiscing about old times." I said. He nodded. We didn't say anything for a moment.

"So you learned all that fighting stuff before? That those girls were doing?" He asked.

"Yup. And if I were you I would not refer to them as girls, but warriors." I said.

"Good point. I guess I shouldn't have underestimated them." Sokka said while chuckling.

"No, you really shouldn't have." I said chuckling with him. I then punched him in shoulder. He jumped and turned to me.

"What was that for?!"

"That, was for your sexist comments when Katara was fixing your pants." I said crossing my arms.

"Ok, fair fair. I deserved that." He said. We both turned back towards the balcony. I heard him wince.

"What's wrong?" I asked checking him over for injuries.

"What? Oh nothing, just a bruise on my stomach. No biggie." I looked at him with my eyebrows raised. He turned again and winced.

"Lift your shirt." I demanded.

"What?!"

"Lift you shirt and let me see this bruise that keeps making you wince." He sighed and then slowly lifted his shirt. A fairly large bruise was across his torso. "No biggie?" I said sarcastically. He rolled his eyes. I placed my hands on his bruise.

"Wha-Aliyah, what are you doing?" He asked.

"Shhh." I said. I could feel the bruise forming on my stomach. I removed my hands to see a plain torso infront of me. "There." He looked down at his stomach then back up to me about 100 times. "What?" I asked confused, he'd seen me use my powers before.

"You healed me, I thought you could only do that for Aang." He said in disbelief.

"No, I can heal anyone."

"How?" He asked.

"I take your pain, and give it to myself." I said while pulling up my shirt to reveal the bruise on my stomach.

"Aliyah you did not need to do that." He said seriously.

"Oh please, it's no big deal. A bruise like this on you would've taken a week or two to heal fully on you. On me it will maybe 2 or 3 days. By tomorrow it will barely hurt at all." I said brushing him off.

"How come?" He asked confused.

"Because I'm the Protector." I said softly. He looked at me confused. "I was born to protect Aang and others. My purpose is to keep the avatar alive. I have to heal faster then most because I have to be able to give Aang my strength when he needs it."

"That's why at the air temple you couldn't move. He was using you for more power." He said in realization. I nodded. Sadness welled up inside me. "Why you?" He asked softly.

"Because I love Aang. So the spirits chose me."

"So you had no choice?"

"None. It's selfish of me to not want to be the Protector, I have these amazing gifts, and yet I would give anything not to be it." I said a tear slipping down my cheek.

"I get it." He said. I turned to him. He was looking out at the water.

"You do?" I asked.

"Yeah it wasn't your choice to be responsible for others well being, the same thing happened to me when my father and the men from our tribe left to fight in the war. It's my job to keep Katara safe." He said slowly. I placed a hand on his shoulder and he turned to look at me. I gave him a sad smile, which he returned. I let out a sigh.

"Being the older sibling sucks." I said. The two of us let out a soft chuckle. We both looked out at the moon and the water. A smile settled on my face.

"What are you thinking about now?" He asked.

"The moon."

"Um, why?"

"Because the moon gave the first Protector their ability to heal. Which means that it gave me my gifts, and despite the fact that being the Protector has cost me greatly, it also has given me a lot."

"Like what?" He asked.

"Well, I'm alive. And if I wasn't Aang's Protector I probably wouldn't have survived in the iceberg. I got to come here again, which I was never going to be able to do back then. I'm going to see the world. And I got to meet you and Katara." I said. He looked at me slightly shocked.

I reached over and grabbed his hand that was on the banister. "I'm glad I met you Sokka." I said. I went on my toes and gave him a peck on the cheek. Before pulling away I whispered in his ear, "thanks for checking in with me." I began to walk away. I slipped my hand off of his. "Good night." I said before exiting the balcony.

"Night." I heard him call back.

I settled in beside Aang and went to sleep with a smile on my face.

Sokka's POV

Aliyah walked into the room where our siblings were sleeping. She was different then I thought. We were a lot more a like then I thought. I placed my hand on my cheek where she had kissed me. A small smile made it's way onto my face. Huh weird. I shrugged it off and then went to bed. I got comfortable by the wall and waited for sleep to take over and yet, for some reason all I could think about was Aliyah starring at the moon.

Aliyah's POV

The next morning I woke up early so that I could get to training. I quickly woke Katara up and told her where I'd be. She told me that it was a great idea and hopped that I had fun. She seemed upset.

"What's wrong?" I asked her.

"Oh uh nothing." She said quickly putting a fake smile on. I raised my brow at her. She let out a sigh and told me the truth. "I'm happy that we're here and that you get to see your friend, Sokka is being taught a lesson and that we can restock on supplies, but Aang has been letting the attention get to his head." I nodded. Aang was like that, he's very kind and sweet, but things can go to his head pretty fast.

"I'm sorry that he's acting like that. If I see him today I'll talk to him, and after my training I'll help you gather supplies." She went to say something but I cut her off. "Katara, I know you know that I want to stay here, but we have a more important job at hand. So we will stay for another few days and then we will keep going, I promise. I haven't forgotten our mission. I just want to spend time with Nikkida and the other warriors and then I will be ready to go, ok?" She nodded. I gave her a hug, grabbed something to eat and then walked to Nikkida and Suki's home. Nikkida was sleeping, so Suki showed me Where her grandmother kept my old armor. Surprisingly it still fit perfectly. Once I was dressed and had my make up on Suki and I walked to the pavilion. We reviewed some of the basic positions and warmed up while we waited for the other girls Tor where her grandmother kept my old armor. Surprisingly it still fit perfectly. Once I was dressed and had my make up on Suki and I walked to the pavilion. We reviewed some of the basic positions and warmed up while we waited for the other warriors to arrive. After about an hour the others came and Suki stood at the front and went over some more advanced sets. I was shocked at my ability to keep up and my muscles seemed to remember all the movements from the past. We continued this for an hour. It felt like old times again. Every time Suki made a correction she sounded exactly like Nikkida, it was refreshing. Then, Sokka entered the pavilion.

"Uh, hey Suki." He said awkwardly.

All the warriors stood up.

"Hoping for another dance lesson?" She asked sarcastically.

"No, I... well, let me explain-" he stuttered.

"Spit it out. What do you want?" Suki asked cutting him off. Hurt was evident in her voice. To everyone's disbelief, Sokka dropped down onto his knee's and bowed.

"I would be honoured if you would teach me." He said genuinely.

"Even if I'm a girl?" She replied defensively.

"I'm sorry if I insulted you earlier. I was wrong." He said. I had to admit, I was impressed. It was very unlikely for Sokka to admit he was wrong, especially to the person he wronged.

"We normally don't teach outsiders, let alone boys."

"Please make an exception. I won't let you down." He said. Suki looked unsure at first. I then stepped forward and placed her hand on her shoulder. She turned to me and I gave her an nod. We both knew that he was being honest.

"All right, but you have to follow all of our traditions." She said. A smirk fell on my face, of course she wasn't going to let him of easy, just like her grandmother.

"Of course." He said instantly.

"And I mean all of them." She said.

She took Sokka to another room and asked me to continue the lesson. I remembered a set that Nikkida came up with herself and began to show it. After ten minutes Suki and Sokka returned. And well Sokka being Sokka began to complain.

"Do I really have to wear this? It feels a little... girlie." He said in defeat.

"It's a warriors uniform. You should be proud. The silk symbolizes the brave blood that flows through our veins. Te gold insignia represents the honour of the warrior's heart." Suki said full of pride. Sokka seemed to take that into account and stood taller.

"Bravery and honour." He said happily. Aang just happened to be walking by.

"Hey Sokka, nice dress." He said sarcastically. Sokka looked down embarrassed. That ticked me off so I ran out after my brother.

"Aang!" I yelled.

"Yeah, Liyah? What's up?" He said nonchalant.

"What's up with you?" I said.

"What do you mean?" He said innocently.

"What do I mean?! You've let all this attention go to you head and now you've been rude to Sokka AND Katara!" I yelled. He looked down guilty. I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair. I place a hand on his shoulder. "Aang, I know that for once people are liking you more because you're the avatar and I know how amazing it is here, but you can't let your fans be more important then your family. I know it's going to be hard, but soon we will have to leave. You're the avatar and we've got crazy scar face Ponytail chasing after us. Just... don't forget who's going to be coming with you." I said before walking back to the pavilion.

Inside, Sokka and Suki were sparring. Sokka has actually seem to get the hang of it. He was holding his own. I came in and joined them and gave Sokka a smile. He gave me a surprised look finally recognizing who I was. For the rest of the day the three of us took turns sparring and learning movements. I showed them some of the more classic sets, while Suki showed us the more modern ones. By the evening Sokka was better then Suki and I anticipated.

Suddenly the chief came into the pavilion.

"Firebenders have landed on our shores! Girls come quickly!" He said panicked. Suki instantly ran out to help.

"Hey I'm not a..." I have Sokka a look. "Ah whatever." He said before we followed Suki. We found her on top of a roof. Sokka and I looked at the firebenders then looked to each other.

"Ponytail." I spat out.

"Friends of yours?" Suki asked.

"Oh yeah we're real tight, he's trying to kidnap Aang and he attacked our village. We're close." Sokka said sarcastically. Some of the firebenders came more into the village. Suki gave us and the others a sign and we all spread out and then attacked. I ran straight for Zuko. He shot fire at me and I dodged it. I jumped to attack him but his beast turned around quickly and knocked me into the ground. He was about to blast me again when Sokka deflected it. Zuko was about to attack again when Suki pulled him off. The beast ran off. " I guess training is over." Sokka said before running over to help Suki. The three of us surrounded him, but he spun around and sent Suki into a house, me into a post and Sokka on his back. Zuko then jumped away.

"Nice try avatar, but these little girls can't save you." He yelled out. Seriously, what was with these sexist boys?

"Hey. Over here!" Aang called out. He stood strongly with his staff. The two began to fight, before Aang got the upper hand and flew off.

I looked at Sokka. And then at the village.

"We have to leave now! It's the only way to save the village." I said sadly. I walked towards him. "I have to say good bye to Nikkida. Tell Suki goodbye for me and then we have to find Aang and Katara, ok?" I said. He nodded then ran off. I ran through the chaos to where Nikkida was. I ran through the house until I got to her room. Smoke was everywhere. "Nikkida?" I called out.

"Aliyah." I heard her reply raspy. I ran over to her to see her on the ground. Tears filled my eyes as I looked at her. I grabbed her hand and started to take her pain. I began to cough. She let go of my hands. "No Aliyah." She said forcefully.

"Nikkida, I will not let you die here." I said determined, I grabbed her arm and tried to pull her up but there was rubble on her leg.

"Aliyah stop." She said putting her hand on my cheek. I kneeled down in defeat, I couldn't get her out. "Look at me." She said softly. I looked up at her my eyes full of tears. "I have lived a long full life. I got to master my peoples traditions and teach them to you and others. I found love and had a son, who gave me a beautiful granddaughter. I've survived the war so I could see you again. I love you, but you have to let me go." She said.

"No, I can't leave you again." I cried.

"You can and you will, just tell me something." She said.

"What is it."

"Is my Suki alive?" She said, I nodded quickly. "Then you tell her that I am so proud of her and she is better then I possibly could have dreamed." I nodded then hugged her. Her breathing became more ragged.

"Please Nikkida, let me take some of the pain, just so it doesn't hurt." I said my voice breaking. She nodded slowly and I took her pain. Slowly she let go and passed. A sob went through my body. She's gone.

Sokka's POV

Aliyah ran off to say goodbye to Nikkida. I ran into the building that Suki got thrown in to and helped her up. I told her that we have to go and that Aliyah said goodbye. We ran outside and I was hesitant to go.

"There's no time to say goodbye." She said quickly.

"What about "I'm sorry""

"For what?" She asked.

"I treated you and the others like helpless girls. I should've treated you like warriors." I said.

"We are warriors, but we're girls too she said before pointing to Aliyah who ran out of the house sadly. Now get out of here we'll hold them off she said before running to help the warriors. I sat there in shock for a moment thinking about what she said. I ran to Aliyah and grabbed her hand and we ran onto Appa. When we sat down Aang said,

"Appa, yip yip!" I sat down and began to wipe off my make up. I looked over at Aliyah who had tear marks down her face. I grabbed a cloth and wiped her face too. She looked up at me with a sad smile. I grabbed her hand and I knew that Nikkida didn't make it. Suddenly Aang jumped down from Appa.

"Aang!" She called out. We watched in horror as he dove into the water. We began to scan everywhere for any sign of him. He then appeared from the water on top of the unagi and got it to spray the town with water until the fires were all out. Aliyah let out a breath of relief. Aang then hopped off of the unagi and Appa caught him. He climbed back up to the saddle where we were sitting.

"I know, I know, that was stupid and dangerous." He said. Aliyah then tackled him in a hug. Katara chuckled and said,

"Yes it was." Before joining the hug. They paused for a moment then turned to me. I rolled my eyes and hugged them too.

A/n: Ok! So that chapter is finally done. I have been working for sooooo long on that one because I had so many ideas for it. I'm again so super sorry that it took so long to come out, but I hope that you'll forgive me because of all the extra scenes. Also I didn't realize this until writing Nikkida's death, but she's kind of like if Toph and Katara were mashed together so Toph and Aliyah will get along. Also I hope I didn't make Sokka too OOC, but OMG the ship is starting to sail! Anywho, I'm going to start writing the next chapter today and I promise it will be out sooner then this one. Bye! Hope you enjoy!


	8. Chapter 6: the king of Omashu

Chapter 6: The king of Omashu

Aliyah's POV

2 days after the events of Kyoshi island, Aang decided that we needed a morale boost. So he decided that we would go to the earth city of Omashu. I'd never been, but Aang went loads before he knew he was the avatar. I always envied him. He was able to explore as much as he wanted before he knew he was the avatar. I was never allowed to go anywhere unless it was to learn how to protect Aang or use my abilities. That got me thinking of Nikkida. Tears welled up in my eyes but I sighed and wiped them away forcefully. I was not going to cry anymore. I had spent the better part of the past 2 days mourning her death. But now I needed to focus, I would not think of her in sadness, only happiness. It's what she would want. I looked up as we reached the top of the hill.

"The earth kingdom city of Omashu." Aang announced proudly. The three of us gapped at the sight before us. It was insanely bigger then Kyoshi. For the first time since Kyoshi I was excited. Aang has told me all about the shoots through the city for mail that he and his friend Bumi used to ride. I couldn't wait.

"I used to always come here to visit my friend Bumi." Aang said with glee.

"Wow! We don't have cities like this in the South Pole." Katara said, still in shock.

"They have buildings here that don't melt." Sokka said in disbelief. I chuckled at their shocked gazes. They all turned to stare at me, it was the first time I had laughed in two days. I looked around awkwardly then walked down the hill.

"Well come on slow pokes! The real fun is inside the city." Aang said before following behind me.

"Wait Aang." Katara called. Aang and I turned to look at her. "It could be dangerous if people find out you're the avatar." Katara said.

"You need a disguise." Sokka said walking forward.

"So what am I supposed to do? Grow a moustache?" Aang said sarcastically. I looked at Appa with an evil grin on my face.

10 minutes later we had finished using Appa's fur to make Aang a moustache and hair. He looked like an old man.

"Ugh. This is so itchy." Aang said complaining. He looked at Appa. "How do you live in this stuff?" Appa snorted on him in response.

"Great, now you look just like my grandfather." Sokka said.

"Technically Aang is 112 years old." Katara said logically. Aang then flipped his staff and bent over like an old man using a walking stick.

"Now lets get the skipping young snippet snappers. The big city awaits." He said in an old man voice. We walked up the path leading to the giant gates. "You guys are going to love Omashu, the people here are the friendliest people in the world." Aang said happily.

"Rotten cabbages! What kind of slum do you think this is?" A guard said before using his bending to send the cart full of cabbages over the edge.

"Oh! My cabbages!" The man cried out. We watched them fall in shock.

"I guess things have changed since you were last here." I whispered to Aang.

"Just keep smiling." He said in response. We all pulled our biggest and fakest smiles as we walked towards the guards. As we approached one of the guards bent a large rock over Aang's head.

"State your business." The guard said gruffly. Aang then rushed up to the guard and got in his face.

" my business is my business, young man, and none of yours!" The rock fell down right in front of Sokka, Katara and I. "I've got half a mind to bend you over my knee and paddle your backside!" Aang said. Wow I guess 100 years still had a bit of an effect on him.

"Settle down old timer. Just tell me who you are." The guard said a bit more calmly.

"Name's Bonzu Pippinpaddleopsicopolis, the 3rd! And these are my grandkids." I had to give Aang credit for coming up with that so quickly, but seriously Pippinpaddleopsicopolis? Sokka and I looked at each other in disbelief. Katara then walked forward.

"Hi. June Pippinpaddleopsicopolis. Nice to meet you." She said as if it wasn't the fakest name ever. The guard still didn't look convinced.

"How come She doesn't look like you two?" The guard said pointing at me. Sokka and I looked at each other. We didn't know what to say.

"Oh that's my brothers fiancée." Katara said. My mouth dropped open.

"They're getting married!" Aang said. The guard looked back up at us so I quickly grabbed Sokka's hand and we put on fake smiles. The guard looked back Katara and pointed at her.

"You seem like a responsible young lady. See that your grandfather stays out of trouble. Enjoy Omashu." He said before stepping out of the way.

"We will." Katara said. Her and Aang began to walk and Sokka and I did as well still holding hands.

"Wait a minute!" The guard said just as Sokka and I passed him. He placed a hand on his shoulder and turning him to face him. "You're a strong young man, show some respect for the elderly and carry your grandfathers bag." He said.

"Great idea." Said Aang before tossing his bag at Sokka. Sokka places it over his head and then grabbed my hand again. The guards opened the gates with their bending. We watched in amazement, before entering the city. We were in shock at the sight before us. It was a beautiful city with these chutes that went everywhere.

"This is the Omashu delivery system. Miles and miles of tubes and chutes. Earth bending brings the packages up, and gravity brings them down." Aang explained.

"Great so they get their mail on time." Sokka said annoyed and let go of my hand.

"They do get their mail on time, but my friend Bumi found a better use for these chutes." Aang said with a smirk.

10 minutes later we were at the top of a chute all in one bucket.

"One ride and then we're off to the North Pole. Airbenders honour." Aang said.

"This sounded like fun at first, but now that I'm here, I'm starting to have second thoughts!" Katara said before Aang pushes us over the edge. Aang was cackling with laughter while the rest of ya were holding on for dear life. We looked to our right and saw that a package of spears was coming down on the chute beside us and that we were about to merge. We all started screaming as we gained speed and the package merged right behind us! Sokka and I had to duck to avoid the spears and Katara moves forward.

"I'm on it." Aang yelled before taking us off of the track. I am going to kill him. We slid off of a roof and passed a group of guards. We hit another package and somehow landed on another track.

"Aang do something! Use your airbending!" Katara said frantically.

"Yeah, good idea. That'll make us go even faster." He said excitedly before making us increase in speed. I'm going to end him if we survive this, I thought to myself. We went down a few more chutes before getting to this really steep one. At the bottom a package was stopped, so we all started screaming. The man at the bottom moved it and we relaxed, before another one took its place and we resumed our screaming. We crashed into and went free falling in the air. Aang then used his bending and got us all back into the cart. We slid down roofs and crashed through buildings before we finally stopped by destroying a cabbage cart. Guards surrounded us. "Two cabbages please." Aang said cheekily. I smacked him upside the head.

We were brought by the guards before the king of Omashu. He sat in his throne and we all looked down guilty. The guards forced us to our knees.

"Your majesty, these juveniles were arrested for vandalism, travelling under false pretences, and malicious destruction of cabbages." A guard explained.

"Off with their heads! One for each head of cabbage!" The cabbage owner yelled. Geez, he must be in love with those cabbages.

"Silence! Only the king can pass down judgment. What is your judgment, Sire?" The guard asked. The king looked at us. I bowed my head in shame while also glaring at Aang. Sokka started to stutter, Katara gave him a big smile and Aang began to whistle after seeing my glare.

"Throw them..." the king said dramatically. We looked up in worry.

"A feast." He finished calmly. The guards and cabbage man looked disappointed while we looked at each other confused.

A few minutes later there was a feast in front of us. Momo began to dig in.

"The people in my city have gotten fat from too many feasts, so I hope you like your chicken with no skin." The king said.

"Thanks but my sister and I don't eat meat." Aang said. The king turned to Sokka.

"How about you? I bet you like meat." He said before shoving the chicken in Sokka's mouth. Sokka began to eat immediately. Katara turned to Aang and I.

"Is it just me, or is this guys crown a little crooked?" Katara said while making a coo coo gesture. I smiled and nodded.

"So tell me, young bald one, where are you from?" The king asked while sitting in his chair.

"I'm from Kangaroo island." Aang said. Are you freaking kidding me.

"Oh, Kangaroo island, eh? I hear that place is really hopping." The king said. Sokka began to laugh and I couldn't help but let out a little giggle.

"What? It was pretty funny." Sokka said defensively. The king yawned.

"All these good jokes are making me tired. Guess it's time to hit the hay." The king said before throwing a piece of chicken at Aang. Aang stopped it with his bending and the guards gasped at the sight. Great, so prince Ponytail is going to be here soon. "There's an airbender in our presence, and not just any airbender. The Avatar!" The king said while standing. Uh oh. Aang stopped bending right away. "Now, what do you have to say for yourself, Mr. Pippinpaddleopsicopolis?" Seriously? What was with this guy?

"Okay, you caught me. I'm the Avatar, doing my avatar thing, keeping the world safe. Everything checks out. No firebenders here. So good work everybody. Love each other, respect all life and don't run with your spears. Aang said while dragging us out the door. We'll see you next time." Aang said. The guards crossed their spears blocking our exit.

"You can't keep us here. Let us leave!" Katara said bravely.

"Lettuce leaf?" The king said before eating one.

"We're in serious trouble. This guy is nuts." Sokka said whispering to us. I nodded in agreement.

"Tomorrow the Avatar will face three deadly challenges, but for now the guards will show you to your chambers." The king said.

"My liege, do you mean the good chamber or the bad chamber?" A guard asked.

"The newly refurbished chamber." The king replied.

"Wait, which one are we talking about?" The guard asked.

"Te one that used to be the bad chamber, until the recent refurbishing, that is. Of course, we've been calling it the new chamber, but we really should number them." The king said. "Take them to the refurbish chamber that was once bad!"

We walked through the castle and then were forced into a room with no doors (we got in with earth bending).

"This is a prison cell? But it's so nice." Katara said confused.

"He did say it was newly refurbished." Aang pointed out.

"Nice or not, we're prisoners." Sokka said.

"I wonder what these challenges are gonna be." Aang said worried. If I wasn't so annoyed with Aang I would've hugged him.

"We're not sticking around to find out." Katara said. We all looked around.

"The air vents!" Aang said pointing to the small holes in the wall.

"If you think we're going to fit through there, then you're crazier then the king." Sokka said.

"We can't, but Momo can." Aang said. We looked over at the fat lemur who was licking an apple in his sleep. Aang walked over to him.

"Momo, I need you to find Appa and bust us out of here." Aang then proceeded to try and shove Momo through the small hole, but alas Momo was too fat from the feast. The rest of us decided to just settle in for the night.

"How was Appa supposed to save us anyway?" Sokka said.

"Spa is a 10 ton flying bison. I think he could figure something out." Aang said defensively. I walked over to Momo to help him out of the wall.

"Well, No point arguing about it now. Get some rest Aang. looks like you'll need it for tomorrow." Katara said while getting into bed. Aang sat on the bed and sighed. I climbed into bed and Momo curled up beside me.

Early the next morning guards entered our chamber and took Sokka, Katara and I. We walked in silence occasionally struggling against the guards. Eventually we stopped in front of a wall and waited. The wall eventually came down and we began to all struggle again.

"So I will give your friends some special souvenirs." I heard the crazy king say. The guards then grabbed our arms only and slipped a crystal ring on our fingers.

"Thanks but I'm not interested in marrying you." I said to the guard, he tapped the ring and more crystals spread. Katara and Sokka tried to pull the rings off as the king explained what they were.

"Those delightful rings are made of pure jennamite, also known as creeping crystal. It's crystal that grows remarkably fast. By nightfall your friends will be completely covered in it. Terrible fate really. I can stop it, but only if you cooperate." He finished serious for once.

"Ahh it's already creeping!" Sokka exclaimed.

"I'll do what you want." Aang said. We walked down into a dark cavern where a giant waterfall was. At this point the crystal had already spread over our hand. Aang was across the cavern.

"It seems I've lost my lunch box key and I'm hungry. Oh there it is. Would you mind fetching it for me?" He said referring to the key in the middle of the waterfall. Seriously that's it? I thought to myself. Aang then leaped from spike to spike and dove into the fall. He grabbed onto the ladder. "Oh the ladder. No ones thought of that before." The king said sarcastically. Aang then got flown out of the falls. Luckily he landed between two spikes. I looked at Katara and saw how worried she was. I noticed that the guards put my ring on my left hand and on Sokka and Katara's right hand. So I reached over and grabbed her hand, taking some of her anxiety. She seemed to relax a bit, but did not take her eyes off of Aang. He then climbed up the cavern to a different angle. He then dove again but got shot out again. "That's

Right, Keep diving head in. I'm sure it will work eventually." The king said. Aang then broke off a piece of the spike, stood on the rest of it and threw the spike. He sent a gust of air with it. The air broke the fall long enough for the spike to go through breaking the chain that was holding the key. The spike then slammed into the wall so that the key was right above the kings head.

"There! Enjoy your lunch! I want my friends back now!" Aang yelled.

"Not yet. I need help with another matter. It seems I've lost my pet, Flopsy." He said.

A few minutes later Aang was in a pit with an adorable bunny.

"Ok, found him." Aang called up to us.

"Bring him to me! Daddy wants a kiss from Flopsy."

"Come here, Flopsy." Aang said approaching the bunny. Suddenly a giant saver tooth rabbit jumped down behind Aang causing him and the bunny to run. The beast growled and destroyed the small perch that the bunny had been on. Aang chased after the bunny saying, "Flopsy, Wait! Flopsy." The beast began to chase him. The bunny quickly turned and Aang called out it's name angrily. The beast kept chasing him, the bunny kept turning and turning until it reached a little hole in the wall and dove in. Aang slid in behind it. He put his arm in but could not reach the bunny. "Wait a minute." He said to himself before standing in front of the beast and saying, "Flopsy?" The beast or Flopsy stopped and picked him up and then licked him. Aang said it's name again, before the king whistled and it ran over to him. It climbed up and the king began to coddle it. Aang came in front of us,

"Guys are you ok?" He asked concerned.

"Other than The crystal slowly in casing my entire body? Doing great." Katara said. Another crystal then formed on Sokka causing him to fall over. Aang marched over to the king.

"Come on, I am ready for the next challenge." Aang said bravely.

We came to a new part of the castle, it looked like an arena, great.

"Your final test is a duel. And, as a special treat, you may choose your opponent." The king said as two giant men came out.

"So You were saying whoever I point 2, that's the person I get to fight?" Aang clarified. I prayed he would be clever and pick me, but I couldn't say anything because my mouth was covered with crystals.

"Choose wisely." The king said.

" I choose you." Aang said pointing at the king. I mentally face palmed.

"Wrong choice." The king said before straightening up and removing his clothes to reveal that he was in very good shape. I made noise of protest, I may be pissed at Aang, but I didn't want him dead. The king then sent Aang flying into the arena. The crystals covered my ears so I couldn't hear anything that far away. I saw the king jump down. I watched as the king kept shooting rocks at Aang while he avoided them. It was intense, they kept going back and forth, gaining and losing the upper hand. I couldn't see everything because of the crystal, but there was mud, rock and dust everywhere. Even a tornado. Eventually a giant rock was floating above the two of them and we couldn't see them. Until it moved away after the king threw it. He then fell into the ground and appeared in front of us. Aang then flew up and joined us.

"You've past all my tests. Now you must answer one question." The king said.

"That's not fair! You said you would release my friends if I finished your tests!" Aang replied outraged.

"Oh, but what's the point of test if you don't learn anything?" The king said.

"Oh, come on!" Sokka said. I grunted.

"Answer this one question, and I will set your friends free. What is my name?" The king said. How the hell was he supposed to know that. This man is insane. "From the looks of your friends, I'd say you only have a few minutes." He continued before walking off.

"How am I supposed to know his name?" Aang said frustrated.

"Think about the challenges. Maybe it's some kind of riddle." Katara said.

"I got it!" Sokka cried out.

"Yeah?" Aang asked.

"He's an earth bender, right? Rocky! You know because of all the rocks." He said.

"We're gonna keep trying, but that's a good back up." Katara said.

"Okay, so back to the challenges. I got a Key from the waterfall, I saved his pet, and I had a duel." Aang said.

"Ok, and what did you learn?" Katara asked.

"Well, everything was different than I expected."

"And?" Katara asked as a crystal grew near her face.

"Well, they weren't straightforward. To solve each test, I had to think differently than I usually would. I know his name." Aang said. We walked back into the throne room.

"I solved the question the same way I solved the challenges. As you said a long time ago, I had to open my brain to the possibilities." The king let out a chuckle. "Bumi, you're a mad genius." Aang said before running up to him and hugging him.

"Oh, Aang, it's good to see you. You haven't changed a bit. Literally." Bumi said. The three of us walked forward.

"Over here!"

"A little help!"

"Mmhmhnmm"

We said as the crystal was about to completely envelop us. Bumi then raised his arm and the crystal broke.

"Jennamite is made of rock candy. Delicious." Bumi said as he ate a piece.

"So this crazy king is your old friend, Bumi?" Katara asked.

"Who are you calling old?" Bumi said defensively. "Ok I'm old."

"Why did you do all this instead of just telling Aang who you were?" Sokka asked.

"First of all, it's pretty fun messing with people. But I do have a reason. Aang you have a difficult task ahead. The world has changed in the hundred years you've been gone. It's the duty of the avatar to restore balance to the world by defeating fire lord Ozai. You have much to learn. You must master the four elements and confront the fire lord. And when you do, I hope you will think like a mad genius." Bumi explained. Aang bowed. "And it looks like you're in good hands. You'll need your friends to help you defeat the fire nation. And you'll need Momo too." He said as Momo climbed onto Aang.

"Thank you for your wisdom. But before we leave, I have a challenge for you." Aang said. A few minutes later we watched as Aang and Bumi rode down the chutes of Omashu. I was glad that Aang got to see an old friend, I thought of Nikkida. A sad smile made it's way onto my face as I walked over to Katara and Sokka who were packing up on Appa.

"You ready?" I heard Sokka call. I turned towards him.

"You betcha." I said with a grin. I would never forget Nikkida m, but I would not let her death haunt me. It's like she said, she lived a good life, and now I need to live mine. I will carry her with me in my heart. I ran of to my friends ready to go on our next adventure.

A/n: so this chapter is really short, but I wanted to get something out fast and honestly this episode didn't have that much I could do. I didn't make Aliyah mourn Nikkida's death that much because it didn't really fit the episode, Nikkida will be mentioned again but like Aliyah said only in a good way. She won't be depressed because of this she will be strong, because that's who Aliyah is. She always tries to make a situation better, I mean she's a healer. Anywho hope you enjoyed! Starting the next chapter ASAP.

P.s. I might skip the occasional episode if it's just filler, I know this one was but I think Bumi is important, I probably won't skip a lot but maybe 2 or 3! Bye! Feb 15


	9. Chapter 7: imprisoned

Chapter 7: imprisoned

Aliyah's POV

A week after the events of Omashu we decided it was best to lay low for a while. We had been traveling throughout the whole day and then only stopping to let Appa sleep. Sokka insisted that we avoid cities and villages as much as possible, so we stuck to the woods. The problem was we were out of food, so Sokka and I would take turns going out and looking for food. Sokka was currently out right now.

I was lying on Appa's back trying to get some rest. Something was coming, something we hadn't faced yet. I hadn't had any visions lately which was a bit of a relief, but the feeling didn't go away. And it was exhausting. I was exhausted.

"Great, you're back. What's for dinner?" Aang said. I looked up and saw that Sokka had returned. Thank god I was hungry.

"We've got a few options. First, round nuts and some kind of oval shaped nuts, and some rock shaped nuts, that might just be rocks. Dig in." Sokka said. I held back the urge to groan.

"Seriously, what else have you got?" Katara asked. Suddenly a loud bang sounded from not too far away. We all looked up, forgetting about the nuts.

"What was that?" Sokka asked concerned. Another bang rang out.

"It's coming from over there!" Aang exclaimed before he and Katara ran over to where he pointed.

"Shouldn't we run away from huge booms, not towards them?" Sokka said sarcastically.

"Sokka, someone could be hurt or in trouble, or who knows, but we have to check it out, come on." I said before racing after our siblings. I heard him grumble as he caught up to me. We all stopped at a fallen tree and saw a boy around my age earth bending.

"An earth bender." Katara breathed out.

"Let's go meet him." Aang said.

"He looks dangerous, so we'd better approach cautiously." Sokka said. I watched as Katara got up and walked towards the boy. I poked the boys and pointed my finger at her.

"Hello there. I'm Katara. What's your name?" She called out. The boy gasped before running off and making a small avalanche fall behind him to stall us. Aang ran up to Katara and Sokka and I followed.

"Nice to meet you!" Aang yelled.

"I just wanted to say hi." Katara said with a hint of hurt and confusion in her voice.

"Hey, that guys gotta be running somewhere. Maybe we are near a village. And I bet that village has a market." Aang said.

"Which means no nuts for dinner!" Katara said happily. The two ran off ahead.

"Hey, I worked hard to get those nuts." Sokka said annoyed. I raised my eyebrow at him. He shrugged his shoulders and began walking. "Yeah, I hate 'em too." He admitted. I chuckledand followed him.

A few minutes later we made our way into the village. We were low on money so I bought a few small bits of food, Aang bought himself a hat to hide his arrows and Katara ran off into a random building. We followed her. I didn't hear what happened before but I watched as Aang walked in saying,

"No, she doesn't. We saw you earthbending." Sokka and I stood in the doorway. The boy from before and I'm assuming his mother quickly shut the door and the shutters.

" they saw you doing what?" His mother asked panicked.

"They're crazy mom. I mean, look at how they're dressed." The boy said. We all fiddled with our clothes, we didn't look that weird, right?

"You know how dangerous that is. You know what would happen if they caught you earth bending." She said stressing the word they. We all stood silently for a moment.

"Open up!" A voice said from the other side of the door. Sokka peered our the shutters.

"Fire Nation. Act natural!" He whispered. I quickly grabbed a bowl and Katara pretended to eat the fruit inside. Then multiple guards barged in. Aang broke a barrel, but before the guard could say anything, the boys mother spoke,

"What do you want? I've already paid you this week." She said.

"The tax just doubled. We wouldn't want an accident would we?" The guard said rudely creating a ball of fire in his hands. Everyone took a small step back and I took a step towards Aang. "Fire, it's sometimes so hard to control." The guard subtly threatened making the ball slightly bigger before making it vanish. The woman sadly walked over and pulled out a small chest. Inside were very few coins, she took all of them and handed them to the guard. "You can keep the copper ones." He said in disgust before throwing them onto the ground. He left. Thank god, what a jerk. As soon as the door slammed shut the woman began collecting the few remaining coins.

"Nice guy. How long has the Fire Nation been here?" Sokka asked.

"5 years. Fire Lord Ozai uses our towns coal mines to fuel his ships." The woman responded.

"They're thugs, they steal from us, and everyone here is too much of a coward to do anything about it." The boy said angrily.

"Quiet Haru. Don't talk like that." Haru's mother scolded.

"But Haru is an earth bender. He can help." Katara argued.

"Earth bending is forbidden. It's caused nothing but misery for this village. He must never use his abilities." She explained sternly.

"How can you say that? Haru has a gift. Asking him not to earthbend, is like asking me not to waterbend. It's a part of who we are." Katara said.

"You don't understand." Haru's mother said sadly.

"I understand that Haru can help you fight back. What can the Fire Nation do to you that they haven't done already?" Katara asked.

"They could take Haru away, like they took his father." His mother said heartbroken. Katara immediately stopped arguing. I walked over to Haru and his mother and placed a hand on each of their shoulders.

"I'm so sorry for your loss." I said while taking a bit of their pain away. Haru's mother spoke to him privately for a moment. Haru told us to follow him.

We walked out the back door and walked up a hill until we got to a barn. I whistled so that Appa would come, we weren't too far away so I knew he could hear me. A few moments later he flew down and walked straight into the barn.

"My mom said you can sleep here tonight. But you should leave in the morning." Haru said.

"Thanks, I'll make sure Appa doesn't eat all of your hay." Aang said looking at the bison who was currently stuffing hIs face. Haru gave us a curt nod before leaving.

"Haru Wait!" Katara called before running out the almost closed doors.

The rest of us decided to set up for the night. Aang and I were going to sleep on Appa, Sokka on a hay bail and Katara on the ground. Later that night Katara came into the barn telling us about Haru used his bending to save a man who was trapped in the mines. After we had eaten some of the food I bought in the market, we settled in for bed.

"It was so brave of Haru to use his earthbending to help that old man." Katara said.

"You must've really inspired him." Aang said.

"I guess so." Katara said.

"Everyone should get some sleep. We're leaving at dawn." Sokka said.

"Dawn? Can't we sleep in for once?" Katara said childishly.

"Absolutely not! This village is crawling with Fire Nation troops. If they discover you're here Aang, we'll be eating fire balls for breakfast. Good night." Sokka said firmly.

"I'd rather eat Fire balls then nuts." Katara commented.

"Good night." Sokka said again. We all laughed.

"Come on Aliyah, you think we should stay and help right?" Katara asked me. I sighed and looked at her sympathetically.

"Katara, I know you want to stay and help, but Sokka is right, we're at risk here." I said calmly.

"So we should just abandon them and leave them to the Fire Nation?" Katara argued getting angry. I rubbed my temple and sighed.

"We are not abandoning them, we are leaving so that Aang can help put an end to all of this." I reasoned.

"But we can help right now." Katara snapped.

"Yeah, and what good is helping them now if Aang gets taken to Ozai and the whole world is like this." I snapped back. She looked down pissed off. "I know it's difficult, but we have to be responsible and make the tough decisions. We can't think of just this one town, we have to think of everyone, or else everywhere will be like this town, or worse like the air nomads." I said. I couldn't meet her eyes. That was harsh.

"I'm sorry Aliyah." Katara said before blowing out the candle. I laid back on Appa. And the tears streamed down my face silently, I didn't make a sound, I just let them fall. How were we supposed to do this, I asked myself. We're just kids. My thoughts went the air nomads, then Gyatso and Then Nikkida. And just like that my heart broke all over again.

The next morning I struggled to get up.

"Come on Aliyah, we have to go." Aang said.

"I'm c-coming." I said softly and raspy.

"You ok?" I heard Sokka call out.

"Yeah I'm fine." I responded while trying to get up. The second I stood up the world started spinning and I fell off of Appa and the world went dark.

Sokka's POV

"Yeah I'm fine." Aliyah said softly. I saw her stand up on Appa and then slip off. Aang and I ran out and caught her before she hit the ground.

"Is she having a vision?" Aang asked me concerned. She didn't look like she was, she looked pale and tired. I felt her forehead and was shocked at the heat.

"I think she has a fever." I said while placing her head down on the rolled up sleeping bag.

"I'll go get some water." Katara said. She then ran outside.

"Do you think she'll be ok?" Aang asked holding his sisters hand. I nodded, it's Aliyah, she will be fine, she has to be. A moment later Katara ran into the barn.

"They took him! They took Haru away!" Katara exclaimed.

"What?" Aang said in disbelief.

"The old man turned him into the Fire Nation. It's all my fault! I forced him into earthbending." She cried out.

"Slow down Katara." I said lying Aliyah down, then walking towards her. "When did this happen?" I wrapped an arm around her shoulders and she clutched my hand.

"Haru's mother said they came for him at midnight." She explained.

"Then it's too late to track him. He's long gone." I said.

"We don't need to track him. The Fire Nation is going to take me right to Haru." She said angrily.

"And why would they do that?" Aang asked confused.

"Because they're going to arrest me for earthbending." She said. Aang and I shared a worried look.

"And how are we going to do that?" I asked my sister. She explained her plan, it was crazy, but actually kind of smart.

"But guys, what are we going to do about Aliyah? She's sick. We can't drag her around or just leave her." Aang pointed out with a hint of worry in his voice. We all looked at her. Beads of sweat had formed on her face and she was moving a bit, but definitely was still unconscious.

"I will take care of her." A voice said. We all turned to see Haru's mother.

"Thank you." Aang said.

"Of course, it's the least I can do for you helping my son." She said. We nodded and she walked over to Aliyah and we began to walk out. "Please, bring him home." She said.

"We will." Katara said determined before closing the barn.

We went to the mines to see if Katara's plan actually had a chance of working. Which to my surprise it did.

"I thought you were crazy at first Katara, but this might work." I said to my sister as we pushed the boulder on top of the vent. "There are ventilation shafts throughout these mines. All Aang has to do is send an air current from that vent to this one right here, the boulder levitates and ta-da, fake earthbending." I said going over the plan once more.

"Aang, did you get all that?" Katara asked.

"Sure, sure, I got it." Aang said nonchalant.

"Do you remember your cue?" I asked him.

"Yeah, Yeah, just relax. You're taking the fun out of this." Aang said distracted.

"By 'this' do you mean intentionally being captured by an army of ruthless firebenders?" I said annoyed.

"Exactly. That's fun stuff." Aang said. I wanted to get angry, but Katara gave me a look, we both knew he was acting out because of Aliyah. I looked up and saw some firebenders.

"Here they come. Get in your places!" I whisper shouted. As they approached Katara and I walked towards each other and intentionally bumped into each other. "Get out of my way, pipsqueak!" I yelled.

"How dare you call me pipsqueak, you giant eared cretin!" Katara yelled back.

"What did you call me?!"

"A giant eared cretin! Look at those things! Do herds of animals use them for shade?" She said. Damn, that was rude.

"You better back off." I yelled, "Seriously, back off." I whispered to her.

"I will not back off! I bet elephants get together and make fun of how big your ears are." She yelled in my face.

"That's it, you're going down!"

"I'll show you who's boss, earthbending style." She yelled signalling Aang. To our dismay nothing happened. Crap. She repeated her self louder and annoyed. Suddenly the boulder shot up.

"That lemur! He's earthbending!" One of the guards exclaimed pointing at Momo. Seriously the one time we want the fire nation here we get these idiots.

"No, you idiot, it's the girl!" I yelled at them.

"Oh, of course." The guard said sheepishly.

"I'll hold her!" I said grabbing Katara. "You've got 12 hours to find Haru. We'll be right behind you." I whispered. I watched as the guards took her away. I started to think about what Katara said about my ears, surely they weren't that bad, I thought to myself. I then turned to Aang and Momo. "Momo you have some big ears." I said to the lemur.

Aang and I followed the guards as they took Katara to the docks. They took her in a wagon and out to a ship. Aang and I shared a look. We quickly went back to the farm to find Appa, I grabbed Appa while Aang went to tell Haru's mother what had happened. I got Appa ready but Aang hadn't returned yet. I walked inside the house. I followed the sound of Aangs voice until I found him and Haru's mother sitting beside a bed. Their backs were to me, but I could see Aliyah. She was still sleeping and had a cloth on her forehead. She was still pale, but she wasn't fidgeting anymore, she was just sleeping.

"How is she?" I asked. They both turned to me.

"She's much stronger then this morning. I believe she is suffering because of emotional stress mixed with all of your travelling. She should be ok in a day or two." Haru's mother said to me. I nodded at her.

"Hear That Aang? She's going to be fine. But now we have to go help Katara and Haru. Let's go." I said to Aang. He nodded and gave Aliyah's hand a quick squeeze before following me outside to Appa.

We quickly set off to find the ship

Katara was on. It didn't take long because there weren't any other ships around. I noticed Aang seemed upset. "She'll be fine Aang. Katara knows what she's doing. And Haru's mother said that Aliyah will be okay too." I said trying to reassure both him and myself.

Aang and I floated around the ship for 12 hours, when they were out we went to the far side of the ship and I waited on Appa and Aang went to get Katara. A few minutes later I saw Katara and Aang.

"Your 12 hours are up. Where's Haru? We've gotta get out of here." I whispered to my sister.

"I can't." She whispered back.

"We don't have much time. There are guards everywhere." I said reaching my hand to her. "Get on."

She didn't move.

"Katara what's wrong?" Aang asked her.

"I'm not leaving." She said stubbornly. Aang and I shared a look. "I'm not giving up on these people." Aang and I climbed off of Appa.

"What do you mean you're not leaving?" I whisper shouted.

"We can't abandon these people. There has to be a way to help them."

"Maybe she's right. What do you say, Sokka?" Aang said.

"I say you're both crazy. You heard Aliyah yesterday we will be helping them." We ducked to not get caught by the light. "Last chance. We need to leave now!" I said trying to y'all some sense into them.

"No!" Katara said aggressively.

"I hate when you get like this." I muttered in defeat. There was no way I could get her off of this ship without drawing attention. "Come on. We better hide." Katara and I ran off while Aang made Appa fly off. We snuck into a little space between boxes to come up with a plan. "We don't have much time. What are we gonna do?" I asked the two.

"I wish I knew how to make a hurricane. The warden would run away and we'd steal his keys." Katara and I looked at him dumbfounded. I forget he's 12 sometimes.

"Wouldn't he just take his keys with him?" I reasoned.

"I'm just tossing ideas around." Aang said defensively.

"I tried talking the earthbenders into fighting back, but it didn't work. if there was just a way to help them help themselves." Katara said.

"For that, they need some kind of earth or some rock, something they can bend." I pointed out.

"But this entire place is made of metal." Katara said defeated.

"No it's not, look at the smoke." Aang said pointing to the giant cloud. "I bet they're burning coal. In other words, earth." He finished. Well we had something to work with.

By morning we had come up with a plan.

"It's almost dawn, we're running out of time." Katara said to me. "Are you sure this is going to work?" She asked.

"It should. These vents reminded me of our little trick back in the village. We're going to do the same thing, but on a much bigger scale. There's a huge deposit of coal at the base of the silo, and the whole system is ventilated. Aang Closed off all the vents, except one. When he does his air bending, the coal only has one place to go: right back here." I said explaining it again.

"There's the intruder!" We heard someone yell. We looked up a saw that we were surrounded by guards.

"Stand back I'm warning you!" I threatened readying my boomerang.

"Katara stop. You can't win this fight!" Haru's father said. The earth benders all looked worried.

"Listen to him well, child. You're one mistake from dying where you stand." An ugly old man said. Then we heard a whistling coming from below. Suddenly coal shot out from the vent with Aang and Momo behind it.

"Here's your chance earth benders! Take it! Your fate is in your own hands!" Katara yelled from the top of the coal. The ugly man let out a laugh as the earthbenders backed away in fear.

"Foolish girl. You thought a few inspirational words and some coal would change these people? Look at these blank, hopeless faces. Their spirits were broken along time ago. Oh, but you still believe in them. How sweet. They are a waste of your energy, little girl. You failed." The ugly man said before turning and walking a way. He paused when a rock hit him in the back of the head. It was Haru, when ugly shot fire at him, Haru's father blocked it. Then a battle broke out. There was flames and coal flying everywhere. I used my boomerang to break the heads off of spears and threw them to Momo, making their weapons useless. Haru and his father put a hole in the side of the ship. We ran towards it and Aang made a tube of the air and we put coal in it to shoot at the fire benders. Then Haru's father made a pile of coal and threw them overboard.

Later Aang and I were on top of Appa waiting for Katara.

Katara's POV

"I want to thank you for saving me." I heard Haru say. I turned towards him. "For saving us."

"All it took was a little coal," I joked.

"It wasn't the coal Katara, it was you." Haru said, a blush crept its way onto my cheeks.

"Thank you for helping me find my courage, Katara of the water tribe. My family and everyone here owes you much." Haru's father said placing a hand on my shoulder.

"I guess you're going home now." I said.

"Yes, to take back my village, to take back all of our villages!" Haru's father cried out raising a fist in the air. "The Fire Nation will regret the day they set foot on our land!" The crowd cheered.

"Come with us." Haru whispered to me. I paused and thought of Aliyah and what she said. There were probably hundreds of cities suffering the same fate as these people. We had to help them.

"I can't." I said turning towards him. "Your mission is to take back your home. Mine is to take Aang to the northern water tribe."

"That's him isn't it? The avatar?" Haru asked. I didn't respond we both knew the answer. "Katara thank you for bringing my father back to me. I never thought I'd see him again. I only wish there was some way..." he trailed off.

"I know." I replied reaching for my mothers necklace. But it was gone. "My mother's necklace! It's gone!" We searched the ships but no one found it. It must be on the rig.

When we returned to Haru's village we rode Appa to Haru's home. Haru's father knocked on the door. His mother opened the door and instantly began crying for joy. She didn't stop hugging and kissing her son and husband. She then looked to me and pulled me into a hug.

"Thank you Katara." She whispered in my ear. She then pulled back. "There's someone inside waiting for you." She said before hugging her boys again. Aang bolted in the house and Sokka and I followed. Sokka led me to the direction of her room. We walked in to see Aang and Aliyah in a tight embrace. They looked up at us. She looked at me and gave me a smile and pulled an arm away from Aang and held it open. I rushed into her arms and began apologizing.

"Katara do not apologize, you were right. While we need to stay on task it doesn't hurt to help when we can." She said to me.

"No, I'm sorry Aliyah, I got so caught up in what happened I couldn't focus on the big picture." I said.

"Ok so you're both sorry and you're both right. Can we go now?" Sokka said. We all let out a little chuckle. Aang and I hugged Aliyah again before helping her out of bed. As we walked out she slung her arm around my shoulder.

"So, give me all the details on how you guys kicked butt." She said happily. I brushed her off.

"Later." I said, she smiled and walked to Appa. And I said goodbye to Haru. When he a his family returned to the house I looked at my family. While we weren't related by blood, in that moment I knew Aliyah was my sister, and that we could fight and still eventually we would be ok. I climbed on top of Appa and sat beside Aang. Sokka and Aliyah were packing at the bottom. I heard a thud and looked down at them.

Aliyah was on her butt on the ground.

"You good?" Sokka asked her slightly amused, but surprisingly I swore I heard a bit of concern in his voice.

"Yeah I'm fine, now help me up." Aliyah said. He pulled her up and continued packing. A small grin had made its way onto both of their faces. Huh, didn't see that coming.

A/n: so sorry for the long wait. My phones been acting up making it really hard to write, plus I had some serious writers block. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. At first I didn't really know what to do with it so I decided to try and work on Aliyah and Katara's relationship and I think it worked! (?) So I am going to start working on the next chapter, and hopefully it will be up sooner. Bye!


	10. Chapter8thewintersolsticepart1

Chapter 8: Winter Solstice: Part 1: The Spirit World

Aliyah's POV

After hours of being sick I was finally starting to feel better. It had been a day since we had met Haru, turns out you miss a lot when you're sick! Thankfully we hadn't seen Ponytail since Kyoshi. It was mid afternoon and we were soaring through the air. At this point we just wanted to get to the northern water tribe. We were all feeling pretty lazy. Aang and I were sitting on Appa's head, Sokka was at the front of the saddle with his back to us and Katara was laying on her stomach.

"Those clouds look so soft, don't they?" She said breaking the silence. "Like you could just jump down and you'd land on a big, soft cottony heap."

"Maybe you should give it a try." Sokka responded sarcastically. I chuckled.

"You're hilarious." Katara said annoyed.

"I'll try it!" Aang said before throwing Appa's reins at me and diving off with his glider. The other two looked over the edge and I just rolled my eyes.

A few seconds later Aang landed back on Appa soaked.

"Turns out clouds are made of water." Aang said sheepishly. I turned around and gave him a glare.

"Aang, some of us have to sleep there tonight so would you please dry off and not wreck Appa's saddle!" I said frustrated. He nodded and then bended the water off of the saddle, ruining Momo's hair. Then Katara looked past me and scrunched her eyes up.

"Hey, what is that?" She asked. We all turned to see a giant area of black in the middle of the forest.

"It's like a scar." Sokka said.

"Let's go check it out." I said cautiously. We flew down to the ground in the middle of the destruction.

"Listen it's so quiet. There's no life anywhere." Sokka said. I knelt down and placed my hand in the dirt, I felt nothing. No ounce of life.

"He's right, it's all dead." I said solemnly.

"Aang, are you okay? Katara called out. I looked up, he was clearly upset.

"Fire Nation!" Sokka growled out. "Those evil savages make me sick! They have no respect for-" Katara shushed him. I began to walk towards Aang slowly. "What? I'm not allowed to be angry", I heard him whisper angrily. Then they went silent. I watched as Aang fell to his knees, clearly upset. I walked over and knelt beside him.

"Why would anyone do this? How could I let this happen?" Aang said softly. I placed my hand on his shoulder and pulled him in for a side hug.

"Aang, you didn't let this happen. It has nothing to do with you." Katara said slowly.

"Yes it does." Aang argued back. "It's the avatar's job to protect nature, but I don't know how to do my job."

"That's why we're going to the North Pole. To find you a teacher." Katara said.

"Yeah, a waterbending teacher, but there's no one who could teach me to be the Avatar. Monk Gyatso said that Avatar Roku would help me." My heart ached at the sound of Monk Gyatso's name.

"The avatar before you? He died over a hundred years ago. How are we supposed to talk to him?" Sokka said pointing out what we were all thinking. Even if Aang was supposed to talk to him a hundred years ago, he would've been dead the whole time Aang was alive.

"I don't know." Aang said softly as Momo curled up on his lap.

"Hey," I whispered to him as the other two looked around a bit. He looked at me. He was so confused and hurt. "I can't give you all the answers, but I do know this. Monk Gyatso was crazy smart, he wouldn't of told you that you could contact Roku if you couldn't right? So let's just have a bit of faith in Gyatso and trust that you will learn what you need to know in time. And hey, maybe it'll just come to you." I said somewhat jokingly. He nodded and I patted his shoulder and walked over to Katara. She had something in her hand and had a big grin on her face. "What is it?" I asked her. She opened her hands to reveal three acorns. We then looked around and noticed more and more acorns on the ground. We walked over to Aang and Sokka.

"Hey Aang, are you ready to be cheered up?" Katara asked him.

"No." He said with a self pitied sigh. Katara then threw an acorn right at his head. "Ow." He exclaimed. I giggled. "Hey how is that cheering me up?" Aang questioned rubbing his head, while Sokka joined in on my laughter.

"Cheered me up." He said, then Aang threw the acorn at his head. "Yeah I probably deserved that." Sokka said while rubbed his head. I chuckled again. "Oh you think that's funny Aliyah?" Sokka said. I shrugged and then he threw an acorn at me that hit me in the shoulder. I let out a gasp.

"Oh it's on water boy!" I said before throwing multiple acorns at him. We kept throwing them at each other until I noticed an old man walking towards us. I paused and lowered my acorn. Sokka looked where I was looking.

"Hey, who are you?" Sokka asked the man. I walked towards Aang preparing to fight if need be. Yes, he's an old man, but benders are dangerous at any age. Bumi was clear proof of that.

"When I saw the flying bison, I thought it was impossible. But those markings… Are you the avatar, child?" Aang looked to Katara and I and we gave him a nod, so Aang nodded back to the man. "My village desperately needs your help." We looked to each other and then followed the man back to his village.

It was nearly sunset when we entered the half broken town. We entered the center building where there were many people.

"This young person is the avatar." The man said. A man walked towards us and said,

"So the rumours of your return our true. It is the greatest honour of a lifetime to be in your presence."

"Nice to meet you too." Aang said. "Is there something I can help you with?" He asked.

"I'm not sure." The man said softly and sadly.

"Our village is in crisis. He's our only hope!" The old man exclaimed. We looked at him concerned. He the began to explain, "For the last few days at sunset, a spirit monster comes and attacks our village. He is Hei Bai, the black and white spirit."

"Why is it attacking you?" Sokka inquired. The men looked at each other sadly.

"We do not know." The younger man said. "But each of the last three nights, he has abducted one of our own. We are especially fearful because the winter solstice draws near." He explained looking at the looming sunset with worry.

"What happens then?" Katara asked.

" As the solstice approaches, the natural world and the spirit world grow closer and closer, until the line between them is blurred completely."

"Hei Bai is already causing Devastation and destruction. Once the solstice is here, there's no telling what will happen."

"So what do you want me to do, exactly?" Aang asked confused.

"Who better to resolve a crisis between our world and the spirit world than the avatar himself. You are the great bridge between man and spirits." The older man said walking towards Aang.

"Right, that's me." Aang said unconvincingly.

"Hey, great bridge guy, can I talk to you over here for a second?" Katara said. As we politely excused ourselves and walked over to a separate part of the room. Katara looked out the window. She then turned and looked at Aang,

"Aang, you seem a little unsure about all this." She said.

"Yeah, that might be because I don't know anything at all about the spirit world." Aang said. I walked over and place a hand on his shoulder I could tell he was getting frustrated. Sokka walked over to Katara and they shared a look. Which just made Aang more upset. "It's not like there's someone to teach me this stuff!" He exclaimed frustrated.

"So, can you help these people?" Katara asked.

"I have to try, don't I?" Aang said softly. Katara looked to me.

"Do you know anything Aliyah?" She asked her eyes filled with desperation.

"I'm not sure. I know that you can communicate with the spirit world, but I'm not sure how. The elders wouldn't tell me." I said softly. I hated that I hadn't pressed the elders more. Then I wouldn't be so useless right now. My shoulders slumped slightly. Aang placed his hand on my arm and smiled at me.

"Maybe whatever I have to do will just come to me." Aang said smiling, quoting me from earlier. I let out a chuckle and gave him a quick side hug, then Momo jumped on top of him.

"I think you can do it Aang" Katara said optimistically. I nodded my head in agreement.

"Yeah, we're all gonna get eaten by a spirit monster." Sokka said. I elbowed him in the ribs.

As the sun began to set over the mountain tops, Aang walked outside alone. The rest of the village had joined us for safety.

"Hello? Spirit? Can you hear me? This is the avatar speaking." Aang called out. "I'm here to try to help stuff."

"This isn't right." Sokka said, his eyes not leaving Aang. "We can't sit here and cower while Aang waits for some monster to show up." Sokka said. I shared his concern, Aang didn't know what to do and he shouldn't be out there alone.

"If anyone can save us, he can." The older man said to us.

"He still shouldn't have to face this alone." Sokka stared. We all watched as the sun began to set. I began to bite my lip.

"The sun is set. Where are you Hei Bai?" He looked around again. "Well, Spirit, uh, I hereby ask you to please leave this village in peace." Aang yelled out. He then spun his staff and hit it on the ground, but nothing happened. "Okay, I guess that's settled then." Aang said before turning around and walking towards us. As he drew nearer we noticed a giant figure appeared behind him. He kept walking towards us until he suddenly stopped and turned around. "You must be Hei Bai, my name is-" Aang was cut off with Hei Bai screeching in his face.

Hei Bai then basically transported around the village destroying whatever was closest. Aang ran behind it calling out, but Hei Bai had no interest. So far Aang had done nothing and it didn't seem that he could do anything.

"The avatar's methods are... unusual." The man from earlier commented. I rolled my eyes.

"It doesn't seem too interested in what he's saying. Maybe we should go help him." Sokka said. I nodded in agreement.

"No. Only the avatar stands a chance against the Hei Bai." The old man said. I bit my lip.

"Aang will figure out the right thing to do guys." Katara said softly and calmly, placing a hand on my shoulder trying to reassure us, but she couldn't hide her feelings from me. She was extremely worried. Just then we saw Aang get hit by the spirit and flung across the village and slammed into a building. Even from a distance I could feel that it really hurt.

"Aang!" I cried out.

"That's it! He needs help!" Sokka said and ran out the doors. I followed close behind.

"Sokka! Aliyah! Wait!" Katara called out behind us. Sokka was out the door, and Katara and I were close behind when the younger man grabbed us and tried to pull us back.

"It's not safe." He said ushering us back in, but I shook his hand off and ran out.

"Hei Bai! Over here!" Sokka yelled, before throwing his boomerang at the spirit. It simply bounced off the monsters butt. In any other situation I would have laughed, but now was not the time. Sokka and I ran over to Aang.

"Sokka, Aliyah, go back!" Aang said stressed.

"We'll fight him together." Sokka said.

"Always." I responded.

"But I don't wanna fight him unless I have-" Aang started but was cut off by Hei Bal grabbing Sokka. Without thinking I grabbed Sokka's hand and held on for dear life. Hei Bai began to run into the woods. I began to try and pry his hand off of Sokka. When he noticed me he flung me off and threw me to a tree.

"Aliyah!" I heard Sokka yell as he was taken deeper into the woods. I saw Aang following close behind on his glider.

"Sokka! Aang!" I cried out as I began to get up from the tree. I started to follow them until I heard Katara's voice in the distance. I began to walk towards it.

"Sokka? Aang? Aliyah? Anyone? Sok- Oh Aliyah thank goodness." Katara said when she saw me, before crushing me in a hug. I wrapped my arms back around her. She then pulled away and looked around me and I saw her look even more defeated. I put my hand on her cheek and rubbed it softly before pulling her in for another hug.

We walked back to the village and Katara sat outside at the gate. I walked to the Center building and grabbed two blankets. On my way back I saw something in the corner of my eye. I walked over and saw that it was none other than Sokka's trusty boomerang. I picked it up and held it to my chest for a moment. I then walked over to Katara wrapped her in a blanket and placed the boomerang on her lap. She looked up at me with tear filled eyes. I wanted to reassure her and tell her everything would be alright, but all I could do was give her a small sad smile. I sat down beside her and wrapped my arm around her shoulders, she leaned into me and she let some silent tears fall. I said nothing, but I rubbed small patterns on her shoulder and watched the woods.

It was near dawn when the elderly man came up to us. We hadn't moved from our spot last night.

"I'm sure they'll be back." He said in a semi convincing tone.

"I know." Katara responded firmly.

"You two should get some rest." He said.

"Everything will be ok." Katara said while moving away from me and clutching Sokka's boomerang tighter. The old man bent down in front of her.

"Your brother is in good hands. I would be shocked if the avatar returned without him." He said. Suddenly a chill ran down my spine, making me stand up abruptly. "The sun is rising, perhaps they will return soon." The elder man finished before the two of them looked at the woods hopefully. I felt strange and decided not to tell Katara, I didn't want to get her hopes up for what could be nothing.

As the day went on Katara and I sat by the gate. I assumed she was lost in thought about Sokka and Aang. I, on the other hand was trying to think of what this feeling was. It felt as though I was being watched. The two of us were so lost in thought that we didn't notice Appa's arrival until he growled in Katara's face.

"Hey buddy." I said patting his nose.

"It's ok Appa. Don't worry. I'm sure they're on their way back. I bet they even got you some moon peaches." Katara said to him before the two walked off. Ok, now was my chance.

"Ok whoever you are." I whispered softly. "If you're here let me know." I said reaching my hand out in front of me. For a moment nothing happened. Then I felt the softest touch on the tip of my finger. I looked directly in front of me and I saw Aang for half a second with a blue hue. I pulled my hand back shocked. Then it hit me. "Of course! Aang you're in the spirit world!" I got the feeling that he was sassing me. "Ok, Aang? I don't know how this works, but trust your instincts and be careful. Please come back and bring Sokka as well!" I said out to nothing. I felt a sort of affirmation and then the feeling disappeared. I let out a sigh of relief. They were both gonna be ok. They had to be.

Mid day Katara told me that she was going to fly around with Appa to see if she could see them. I remained at the gate. At some point I had a vision. I saw Katara flying on Appa in the distance and I saw Ponytail starring at them. He seemed to be debating following them or not. In the end he chose not to and instead followed some tracks. The vision left me very confused. Why would Zuko not follow Appa given the chance? I thought finding Aang was his mission? I was confused, but by the time I woke up it was nearly sunset. I rushed to the main doors and stood with Katara. As the sun began to set we noticed a figure in the distance. It was Aang! Katara rushed to him first and held him tight.

"You're back! Where's Sokka?" She asked. He looked down disappointed.

"I'm not sure." He said sadly. I walked up to the pair. He looked up at me. I reached my hand out as I did before and he put his middle finger against the tip of mine. I pulled him into a hug relieved.

"Do you have any idea what to do?" I asked him. He looked at the sun which had just set.

"I have a guess." He said. I gave him a firm nod before bringing Katara to the main building as Aang walked out to the gate.

After some time had passed, Aang looked defeated and began to walk back towards us. Then Hei Bai emerged out of a building startling Aang who quickly defended himself.

"Aang, what are you doing? Run!" Katara yelled out.

"No Katara!" I said, "he knows what he's doing." He then touched Hei Bai on the head and revealed that Hei Bai was the spirit of the forest and was hurt by the destruction of it. He then showed that the forest would grow back in time. Hei Bai then transformed into a giant panda bear and as he left the gate bamboo appeared and a few people, including Sokka emerged from the bamboo. Katara cried out in relief and ran to her brother. I then turned to Aang. "So it was you spying on us." I said. He chucked.

"I wouldn't say spying, try trying to figure out why no one can see you." He said.

"Fair enough." I said with a shrug.

"How did you know I was there?" He asked me.

"I'm not sure, all I know is that when you were close enough I could sense your presence and when I touched you, for a moment I could see you."

"Weird." He responded. I let out a chuckle.

"Agreed. Now, why don't we get out of this village, now that we've got the boys back."

After reunions had been made we gathered in front of the main building.

"Thank you, Avatar. If only there were a way to repay you for what you've done." The leader said.

"You could give us some supplies and some money." Sokka said. We all looked at him in disbelief as to how he could be so straightforward.

"Sokka!" Katara exclaimed while elbowing him. Huh, guess her relief of him being back was over.

"What? We need stuff." He stated. I guess he was right, we really were on our last legs.

"It would be an honour to help you prepare for your journey." The chief said before walking off. I let out a sigh of relief that he was not offended by Sokka.

"I'm so proud of you Aang." Katara said while placing a hand on his shoulder. "You figured out what to do all on your own."

"Actually, I did have a little help." He said sheepishly, while we looked at him confused. Then he looked down. "And there's something else."

"What is it?" Sokka asked stepping towards him.

"I need to talk to avatar Roku, and I think I found a way to contact his spirit." Aang said.

"That's great!" Katara said.

"Creepy, but great." Sokka said. I bit my lip nervously, something about this wasn't sitting right with me.

"There's a temple on a crescent shaped island, and if I go there on the solstice. I'll be able to speak with him."

"But the solstice is tomorrow!" Katara pointed out.

"Yeah and there's one more problem." Aang said. He looked up at me and my heart sank.

"It's in the fire nation isn't it?" I asked. Aang nodded his head. Great. Just great.

A/N: Hi omg I'm so sorry I'm the worst author ever! I honestly feel terrible. I just got busy and was honestly very stumped with this episode. There were so many options of what to do and I finally settled with this one. Thank you so much to everyone who has favorited and followed this story, it makes me so happy. And now that we are stuck in quarantine, I actually have time to write! And I have a bit more of a plan of what I want to do with this story. I am now going to work on part 2 of this episode and hopefully have another chapter done soon!


	11. Chapter 9 Winter Solstice P2 Avatar Roku

Chapter 9: Winter Solstice: Part 2: Avatar Roku

Aliyah's POV

After we had gathered our provisions from the people, we decided to rest for the rest of the night and then set out early in the morning. Everyone had then gone to bed. I slept for about an hour before I sensed something was wrong. I sat up abruptly and looked around. Everything was exactly where it had been before, except one thing. Aang.

I quickly shook Katara and Sokka awake.

"Whaaatttt?" Sokka groaned. Katara's eyes fluttered open slowly until she saw my expression. Then she woke up.

"Aliyah, what is it?" She asked.

"Aang's gone. Get your stuff." I said quickly. They both instantly got up. We grabbed our stuff and bolted outside. Luckily, we saw Aang arguing with Appa to move.

"So, get your big butt off the ground and let's go!" Aang said angrily. He tried a few more times to get him to move, but Appa would not budge. I made a note to myself to give Appa some moon peaches the next time we had them.

"I think his big butt is trying to tell you something." Sokka said getting Aang's attention.

"Please don't go Aang." Katara said pleadingly. "The world can't afford to lose you to the fire nation. Neither can I." Aang thought pensively for a moment, clearly he knew something that we didn't. Then he stood up.

"But I have to talk to Avatar Roku to find out what my vision means." He said urgently. "I need to get to the fire temple before the sun sets on the solstice, that's today!" He exclaimed. He then jumped on Appa's head preparing to leave. We ran out in front stopping him.

"Aang, stop!" I said.

"We're not letting you go into the fire nation Aang." Katara said firmly.

"At least not without your friends. We got your back." Sokka said with a smirk and crossing his arms. Appa then gave him an affectionate lick. "Ew!" The three of us climbed aboard Appa bringing our stuff on. I then turned to the leader.

"I've had a vision of prince Zuko from the fire nation. He is close and will likely be following our trail. Be careful, please hide us as long as you can, but do not put your people at risk." I explained. He nodded before walking to Aang.

"It's a long journey to the crescent island. You'll have to to fly fast to have any chance of making it before sun down. Good luck." He said.

"'Thank you for your-"

"GO!" The chief cried cutting Aang off.

"Appa yip yip!" I said. He grunted and then took off. We then settled in. Aang was steering while the rest of us got a bit more shut eye. When Katara and Sokka we're asleep, I moved to Aang.

"Hey Liyah, can't sleep?" He asked me. I flicked his ear. "Hey! What was that for!" He said rubbing his ear. I flicked his other one.

"For trying to leave without us! What were you thinking Aang!" I said angrily. He looked down.

"I didn't think you guys would let me do this." He replied.

"Aang," I said, he looked at me. "I'm your protector, and more importantly I'm your sister. When you're going somewhere, I'm with you, especially when it's as important as contacting the previous avatar." I said.

"Really?" He asked softly.

"Of course, we don't know enough about you being avatar. So, anytime we have a chance to learn we need to take it. Even if it's dangerous." I explained. He nodded. I gave him a kiss on the cheek and went to lie down. "Wake me up in an hour." I said while yawning.

"Ok." He replied.

"Oh, and Aang?"

"Yeah Liyah?"

"If you ever try to leave without me, I will track you down and kick your butt from here to the western air temple."

By mid day we were approaching the fire nation boarders. Aang was still steering, he seemed to know roughly where to go, so no one took his place. The rest of us were basically hanging off of Appa looking for the island. Suddenly Katara jumped up.

"Aang, we got trouble!" She said.

"Yeah and it's gaining fast!" Sokka exclaimed. I looked behind and saw Ponytail's ship approaching quickly. I then noticed a fireball being lit on a catapult.

"Aang, get ready!" I called out.

"Fireball!" Katara yelled as is came hurtling towards us.

"I'm on it!" Aang yelled before dodging the ball.

"We've got to get out of Zuko's range before he shoots another hot sticker at us!" Sokka said. "Can't you make Appa go any faster?!"

"Yeah, but there's just one little problem." Aang said.

"A blockade." I said softly.

"If we fly north, we can go around the fire nation ships and avoid the blockade. It's the only way." Aang explained.

"There's no time!" Katara countered.

"This is exactly why I didn't want you to come. It's too dangerous." Aang frustratedly responded.

"And that's exactly why we're here." Katara said.

"Let's run this blockade." Sokka said. Aang looked to me.

"We can do it." I said. Aang then turned determined to face the blockade.

"Appa, yip yip!" He said. We began to move faster as dozens of fireballs began to fly towards us. We all let out screams of terror. We dodged fireballs left and right until one got too close to Appa and he was burned in a few places. Sokka, Katara, and Momo patted his fur to put out the flames. While I began to heal Appa. I felt a few small burns appear on my arm.

"Appa, are you ok?" Aang yelled. Appa let out a grunt and I could feel his brief relief that he was no longer burnt. Aang then brought us higher into the air above the clouds. Just as we thought we were going to have a moment of peace, the next wave of fireballs hit. They were everywhere. They got so bad that Appa got hit again and in attempt to avoid another made a sharp move knocking Sokka off of Appa.

"Sokka!" The three of us cried out. Aang yelled and then dove down to where Sokka was falling. I began to heal Appa hoping it would make it a bit easier to catch Sokka. More burns appeared on my other arm and a few on my sides. We made a quick pull up so that Sokka was above us and then Katara grabbed his hand and pulled him back on. We were at the water level and Aang was dodging the fireballs, heading straight for the blockade. Just then a fireball was shot straight for us. At the last moment Aang jumped off of Appa a kicked the ball with his bending, making it explode around us. Aang got pushed back, and began flailing, until we grabbed him and got him resituated on Appa. We then flew straight past the blockade and we were in the fire nation.

"We made it!" Aang said throwing his fist in the air.

"We got into the fire nation. Great." Sokka said.

After the shock of what had happened wore off we all slumped back. I felt Appa and was relieved when I felt that he had no more burns. I went to check on everyone else. Aang has a tiny burn on his hand which I quickly healed and he didn't even notice. Katara and Momo were all good. I moved towards Sokka, who was at the back, away from the others trying to rest.

"Hey, you good?" I asked him.

"Oh yeah, I'm peachy, just went through a fireball storm and nearly fell to my death. How are you Aliyah?" He asked sarcastically. I sighed.

"I just wanted to know if you had any injuries." I said.

"Oh, uh, no, I'm good he said." He said well turning towards me. His eyes widened and he grabbed my hand. "Aliyah! What happ-"

"Nothing! I just healed Aang and Appa, I'm fine." I whispered cutting off his loud exclamation, hoping the others didn't get curious.

"Aliyah you don't have to do that." He said seriously, but in a hushed tone.

"Yes, I do." I said pulling my hand out of his and pulling my sleeve down to cover the burn. "It's just, I can't stand seeing any of you hurt, so when I have a chance to take it away, I do." I said softly. He didn't look impressed. "Sokka don't worry, I swear I'm fine. These are so small anyways that they'll probably be gone by tomorrow, ok?"

"Ok, but Aliyah be careful. We need you. Don't let it go too far." He said softly. He then turned away leaning off of Appa to look for the island. I sat there for a moment letting his words sink in, before I turned the other way looking for the island.

It was almost sunset by the time Aang cried out, "there it is! The island where Roku's dragon took me." We flew down and landed where Appa could rest. We all got off and Sokka began to stretch like crazy. I gave him a weird look, which he didn't notice. "You did it buddy, nice flying." Aang said to Appa rubbing his nose affectionately. Appa groaned before rolling onto his side. I chuckled and patted his belly.

"Oh, you must be tired." Katara said to him joining in on the belly rubbing action.

"No, I'm good. Refreshed and ready to fight some firebenders." Sokka said to her. She turned and looked at him incredulously.

"I was talking to Appa." She said pointedly. Sokka looked embarrassed.

"Well, I was talking to Momo." He said. She rolled her eyes and followed Aang as he began to climb to the temple.

"Nice recovery." I said to him with a smirk. I rolled his eyes and gave me a light nudge. Before walking past me. I let out a light laugh. "Come Momo." I said, he chittered and then ran and sat on my shoulder.

When we got to the top we were all feeling a bit more cautious. We hid from the main entrance and scouted the area.

"I don't see any guards." Sokka said.

"The fire nation must have abandoned the temple when avatar Roku died." Katara suggested.

"Perhaps, but I doubt it's completely abandoned, avatar temples are pretty sacred. There's bound to be someone in there." I said.

"Ok, we'll be careful. It's almost sundown. We'd better hurry." Aang said. We then leaped from our spot and ran into the temple. Once we were in we began to move as quietly as possible. After a few minutes Sokka said, "wait, I think I heard something." We turned around to see five old men blocking the entrance.

"We are the fire sages, guardians of the temple of the avatar." The one in the middle said. I did not get a good feeling from them, but before I could express my concern, my dear brother had to open his mouth.

"Great. I am the avatar." He said walking forwards.

"We know." The sage from earlier said. We all got into defensive positions and they shot three fireballs at us. Aang blocked their blow.

"I'll hold them off. Run!" Aang said. We wasted no time and bolted. We were running down corridors turning every few times when Aang slid out in front of us. "Follow me!" He cried out and began bolting.

"Do you know where you're going?" Sokka asked.

"Nope." Aang replies before turning a corner. Before we could catch up to him he returned from the corner shouting "wrong way!"

"Come back!" The sage cried, but we followed Aang, twisting and turning until we hit a dead end. The sage caught up to us. "I don't want to fight you. I am a friend." He said. The three of them got in defensive positions, but I didn't. The sages should have been accommodating to Aang, but they weren't and they attacked us. But this one has us cornered and was not attacking or calling for back up.

"Firebenders aren't our friends." Sokka said spitefully.

"Wait guys." I said pushing past them as the man kneeled before Aang.

"I know why you're here, avatar." He said and then stood.

"You do?" Aang questioned.

"Yes. You wish to speak to avatar Roku. I can take you to him." He said.

"How?" Aang asked. The sage then turned to the wall, moved a light and revealed a secret passage.

"This way." The sage urged. I moved forward, but the others didn't.

"Find him." We heard a voice say in the distance. This seemed to wake them up. "Time is running out! Quickly!" The sage urged.

"Come on guys! We can trust him! I know it." I said exasperated. We then went into the passage and the sage closed it behind us.

As we walked down the steps of the passage, the sage explained the temple to us.

"Avatar Roku once called this temple home. He formed these passages out of the magma."

"Did you know avatar Roku?" Aang asked.

"No, but my grandfather knew him. Many generations of fire sages guarded this temple long before me. We all have a strong spiritual connection to this place." The sage explained as we began to travel upwards.

"Is that how you knew I was coming?" Aang asked.

"A few weeks ago, an amazing thing occurred. The statue of avatar Roku— its eyes began to glow." He explained.

"That's when we were at the air temple." Katara realized. I shuddered at the thought of us being there, that was not a fun time. "Avatar Roku's eyes were glowing there too." She said.

"At that moment, we knew you had returned to the world." He finished off.

"If this is the avatar's temple, why did the sages attack me?" Aang asked softly.

"Things have changed." The sage said solemnly. "In the past the sages were loyal only to the avatar. When Roku died, that sages eagerly awaited for the next avatar to return, but he never came."

"They were waiting for me." Aang said gripping the wall.

"Hey, don't feel bad you were only 100 years late." Sokka said slapping Aang on the shoulder. Aang look pissed off. I smacked Sokka in the back of the head. He grumbled and rubbed his head.

"They lost hope that the avatar would ever return. When firelord Sozin began the war, my grandfather and the other sages were forced to follow him. I never wanted to serve the firelord. When I learned you were coming, I knew I would have to betray the other sages." He explained. I walked up to him and held his hand taking some of his pain from him. He smiled at me and patted my hand.

"Thank you for helping me." Aang said. We then came to a grand spiralling staircase.

"We'll follow these stairs to the sanctuary. Once you're inside, wait for the light to hit avatar Roku's statue. Only then will you be able to speak with him." The sage explained.

We reached the top of the stairs and the sage moved a block, looked around and then beckoned us to follow. We walked up in front of a large door. Then Shyu, the sage, gasped "No!"

"Shyu, what's wrong?" Aang asked.

"The sanctuary doors— they're closed." Shyu explained.

"Can't you just open them with firebending? Like you opened that other door." Katara asked. As Aang began to helplessly try to pry the doors open.

"No, only a fully realized avatar is powerful enough to open this door alone. Otherwise, the sages must open the doors together with five simultaneous fire blasts." Shyu explained. I looked over at Sokka who was thinking.

"Five fire blasts, huh? I think I can help you out." He said. Oh dear. Sokka ran around and gathered some supplies.

"This is a little trick I picked up from my father. I deal the lamp oil inside an animal skin casing. Shyu lights the oil-soaked twine, and Ta-da! Fake fire ending." He explained. I raised my eyebrows impressed.

"You've really outdone yourself this time Sokka." Katara said impressed.

"This might actually work." Shyu said.

"Let's hope it does." I said. We then grabbed the "firebending" and put them into the mouths.

"The sages will bear the explosions, so as soon as they go off, you rush in." Shyu said to Aang. Sokka and I then ran behind Katara for cover.

"It's almost sunset. Are you ready?" Katara asked Aang.

"Definitely." Aang said. Shyu then lit the bombs and ran to Aang for cover. The explosion went off and Aang ran to the door.

"They're still locked!" He exclaimed. We all stood their defeated.

"It didn't work." Shyu said defeated. Aang got mad and began blasting at the doors.

"Why! Won't! It! Open?! UGH!" He said angrily.

"Aang stop!" Katara cried out. "There's nothing else we can do." She said pulling him back.

"I'm sorry I put you through all this for nothing." Aang admitted softly.

"I don't get it." Sokka said rubbing the scorch marks from the blast. "The blast looked as strong as any firebending I've seen."

"Sokka, you're a genius!" Katara randomly said. Shyu, Aang and I looked at her.

"Wait. How is Sokka a genius? His plan didn't even work." Aang said.

"My thoughts exactly." I said.

"Come on guys, let her dream." Sokka said all proud of himself.

"You're right. Sokka's plan didn't work, but it looks like it did." The gears in my head began to turn and I realized Katara's new plan.

"Katara you're a genius!" I exclaimed.

"Hey, I thought I was the genius." Sokka said grumpily.

"Did the definition of genius change in the last hundred years?" Aang asked confused. Katara and I then explained to the other three what we were thinking. I ushered Momo into the tube, while Shyu went to get the other sages. We ran and hid behind the pillars before they arrived. It only took a few moments before the five sages ran in front of the doors.

"Come quickly! The avatar has entered the sanctuary!" Shyu said in a fake concerned voice.

"How did he get in?" The sage from earlier said.

"I don't know, but look at the scorch marks and down there." Shyu said while pointing at Momo's shadow.

"He's inside. Open the doors immediately before he contacts avatar Roku!" The older sage said. The five of them blasted the door, unlocking it, which revealed Momo, who sneezed, adorably. "It's the avatar's lemur. He must have crawled through the pipes. We've been tricked!" The sage said. Then Momo pounced in his face, and we attacked. Katara and Sokka got the two sages on the right, I took over for Momo, and Shyu got the guy closest to him. We had them all pinned and Shyu said, "Now, Aang!" But there was nothing. Aang didn't come out. My heart dropped.

"Aang now's your chance!" Katara called out. Then Aang came out from behind his pillar while struggling against Zuko.

"The avatar's coming with me." Zuko said. Then in our moment of weakness the sages got the upper hand on all of us and had tight grips on us. They pulled us to a pillar and chained us up to it, with Sokka between Katara and I. We struggled against it, but it was no use. "Close those doors, quickly!" Zuko shouted. We heard Zuko yelp and then saw Aang sprinting towards us.

"Go!" Katara yelled at him. He dodged the benders and literally dove in at the last second. I let out a breath of relief. "He made it." Katara said. A blue hue then shot out from the door, momentarily blinding us. The sage holding Shyu chained him up to another pillar as Zuko joined us. The four sages and Zuko then blasted the door.

"Why won't it open. It's sealed shut." Zuko whined.

"It must have been the light. Avatar Roku doesn't want us inside. The sage from earlier said. They all stood their angrily. I then got the feeling that I had gotten yesterday when Aang was in the spirit world. I let out a soft gasp.

"Aliyah what is it?" Sokka asked, I looked over to see them both looking at me with concern.

"It's ok, he's made contact with Roku." I said. Katara smiled and I looked over to see Shyu smiling as well.

"How do you know?" Sokka whispered.

"Honestly, I don't know, but I just do. I guess another perk of being the protector." I said. He nodded. Zuko then ordered Shyu to be unchained. They brought him in front of Zuko kneeling.

"Why did you help the avatar?" Zuko questioned.

"Because it was once the sage's duty. It is still our duty." Shyu said. I smiled softly at his words, it was nice to know that some people truly believed in Aang. My smile dropped in an instant when I heard a single set of claps in the distance. I looked over to see a man with abnormally large side burns and a bunch of firebenders approaching.

"What a moving and heartfelt performance. I'm certain the firelord will understand when you explain why you betrayed him." He said too calmly.

"Commander Zhao—" the sage began to say before he was cut off.

"And, prince Zuko, it was a noble effort, but your little smokescreen didn't work." Zhao then signaled one of his men to grab Zuko. Another guard grabbed Shyu and chained him up with us. "Two traitors in one day. The firelord will be pleased." He said proud of himself.

"You're too late, Zhao. The avatar's inside and the doors are sealed." Zuko said.

"No matter. Sooner or later, he has to come out." He said with a smirk. The three of us looked at each other nervously. "For now though, let's take a look at what we have here." He said walking towards us. He snapped his fingers and the guards tied Zuko to a pillar. He looked at Katara and Sokka. "Ugh, water tribe, I thought you were extinct." He said Katara looked hurt and Sokka growled softly. He gaze fixed on me. "Ah, but you are interesting." He said.

"Oh yeah, how so?" I shot back angrily. His smirk just seemed to grow.

"Because you, pet, are the protector." I tried to hide my shock.

"Where's your proof?" I said venomously.

"Why, you are pet." He said grabbing my hand, pointing to the fading burns on them. "You see these burns are from the attack earlier today, and yet they are nearly completely healed. No one normal could do that. Only the protector could." I snatched my hand out of his grasp.

"Leave her alone." Sokka growled out.

"Sorry, boy." He said drawing out the word boy. "No can do. Delivering the protector to the firelord is almost as good as delivering the avatar to him. Imagine, being able to heal soldiers on the dime, the firelords powers being amplified, and being able to use the weaker nations bending against them. The fire nation would be more unstoppable then we are now." Zhao explained. Fear coursed through my veins. I did not want to be the fire nations weapon.

"Never gonna happen." I managed to say, hiding my fear.

"Oh pet, as soon as we get the avatar. You're going straight to the firelord." He said placing a finger on my chin lifting it up. I tried to bite it, but he moved it away too quickly. He chuckled and then walked to his men. He snapped and they all moved beside him. They all moved into a fighting stance. "When those doors open, unleash all of your firepower." Zhao ordered.

"How's Aang gonna make it out of this?" Katara asked.

"How are we gonna make it out of this?" Sokka shot back. Suddenly, the feeling I had from before changed.

"He's coming out." I said. I felt Aang enter the avatar state, but then his presence changed slightly, but it was ok because I knew who it was. The light from before shot out again and the doors began to open.

"Ready..." Zhao yelled. Katara and Sokka began to fight against the bonds.

"No, Aang!" Katara cried out.

"Fire!" Zhao commanded. And they did, many fire balls went hurtling at the avatar, but he blocked it and bent it to his will. To everyone's shock, but my own. It was not Aang, but avatar Roku. I then heard his voice in my head.

"Protector, I ask that you assist me in destroying this temple." The voice was weird, a mix of Aang and Roku.

"I accept." I said and then I felt him take a hold on me. It wasn't as powerful as when we were at the southern air temple, it felt more controlled this time. I opened my eyes to see him shoot the fire back at his attackers and break our bonds. The sages and guards were running away from the powerful avatar.

"Avatar Roku is going to destroy the temple. We have to get out of here!" Shyu yelled at us.

"Not without Aang!" Katara said. Shyu then left us. We crouched and hid from the blasts around us. Sokka has his arms around Katara and I as we felt the floor beneath us get warmer and warmer. When suddenly it stopped, I felt the grasp on me disappear and I turned to see Aang where Roku was standing.

"Aang!" I cried running to catch him.

"We got your back." Sokka said helping him stand.

"Thanks. Where's Shyu?" Aang asked.

"I don't know." Katara said. I began to check Aang for wounds.

"Liyah, I'm okay, really." Aang said to me. I nodded.

"I know, I just had to be sure." I said. We went over to the stairs to try and leave, but the lava was crawling up quickly, and then one of the pillars collapsed near us. Our only hope was the hole Roku made, but we were at the top of the temple. The others looked defeated. And then I prayed to the spirits that this would work. I ran to the edge and whistled with my fingers. I then heard Momo's chitter and saw Appa flying towards us. "Come on! We gotta jump." I said, we all jumped out and slid on the roof and landed on Appa. Before he wasted no time and got us out of there.

That night as we were flying away on Appa, Aang explained to us what Roku has told him and we were all filled with despair. We sat together in silence for the rest of the night.

A/N: another chapter done! I'm pretty happy with how this one went. Yes, I might have made Zhao creepier then he actually is, but I can't help it. I get pedo vibes from him (no I will not be going there in this story because *barf* gross) anyways, let me know what you think!!


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